Alaska Business March 2019

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CONTENTS MARCH 2019 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 3 | AKBIZMAG.COM

FE AT UR E S 16 TELECOM & TECH Internet for All

How two companies are keeping rural Alaska connected

GCI

By Julie Stricker

8 FINANCE

22 INSURANCE

26 OIL & GAS

72 ALASKA NATIVE

Know the five “C”s before going for that loan

Protecting Alaska’s most dangerous industries

AGDC reorganizes, returns to stage-gate approach

Alaska Native investment in small business

By Tracy Barbour

By Tracy Barbour

Funding a Startup with Spotty Credit

4 | March 2019

Stay Safe with Specialized Insurance

The LNG Saga

Perfect Partners

By Isaac Stone Simonelli

By Isaac Stone Simonelli

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

VISION, COMMITMENT, LEADERSHIP AND

ONE BANK

THAT BELIEVED IN US

Bethel Native Corporation has grown from a $10 million operation to a $99 million enterprise while meeting the challenges of Alaska’s ever-changing economy.

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CONTENTS MARCH 2019 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 3 | AKBIZMAG.COM

MEA

FE AT UR E S

82 ENERGY Resolve Marine

Electrifying the Railbelt

Planning for a transco moves forward

By Julie Stricker

76 ENVIRONMENTAL

88 MINING

New legislation to address Alaska’s abandoned vessel problem

The future looks bright for Alaska’s commodities

Mining Matters

Sunken Debt

By Vanessa Orr

By Vanessa Orr

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION

ABOUT THE COVER

32 JOB OUTLOOK Construction Job Outlook: Cloudy

The silver lining—hundreds of millions of dollars in projects coming

By Brad Joyal

40 PROJECTS

Building Western Alaska DOT&PF and Department of Education projects dominate regional construction activity

64 RECOVERY

How to Fix an Earthquake in Four Days

DOT&PF

Cooperation is crucial for disaster recovery

By Tasha Anderson

46 DIRECTORY

2019 Alaska Business Construction Directory

Alaskans know what construction means because we know what infrastructure means. Even those who live in Alaska’s urban centers know where the roads end, where the hospitals aren’t, and where sanitation is little more than a bucket. Construction in Alaska is the foundation of education, healthcare, communication—it’s how we make opportunities.

As Winston Churchill said: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”

Cover design: David Geiger

By Brad Joyal

DEPARTMENTS 7 FROM THE EDITOR 92 EAT, SHOP, STAY, PLAY 6 | March 2019

94 EVENTS CALENDAR 96 BUSINESS EVENTS

98 RIGHT MOVES

102 OFF THE CUFF

100 INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

104 ALASKA TRENDS

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

FROM THE EDITOR

VOLUME 35, #3 Published by Alaska Business Publishing Co. Anchorage, Alaska

EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor

Kathryn Mackenzie 257-2907 editor@akbizmag.com Associate Editor

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Construction Spending to Reach $7.2 Billion in 2019

I

t’s being widely reported that 2019 will be the year Alaska emerges from several years of hard economic times with more job opportunities as well as increases in private and public sector spending contributing to a slow crawl out of the recession into what is being characterized as a “postrecession” period. So while Alaska’s economic spring might not have sprung quite yet, it looks like it’s just around the corner.

Forward momentum in the construction industry will contribute greatly to Alaska’s recovery; there’s an anticipated uptick in private and public sector spending to $7.2 billion (including earthquake-related spending), a 10 percent increase from last year, according to Alaska’s Construction Spending Forecast 2019 by Scott Goldsmith, professor emeritus of economics at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), prepared for the construction industry.

The primary contributor to the construction industry’s increased spending will be a direct result of surges in petroleum spending—forecast to increase 13 percent to $2.7 billion—and national defense spending, set to grow 13 percent to just under $1 billion, according to the report.

“The growth in petroleum spending is attributable to several factors including many recent large discoveries on the North Slope, technological advances driving down the cost of development, positive federal and state policies towards the industry, and a higher oil price,” the report says.

Meanwhile, the bulk of national defense spending in Alaska can be attributed to the missile defense installation at Clear Air Force Station and Fort Greely and buildups ahead of the arrival two F-35 squadrons (nearly fifty planes total) at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks (to read more about this exciting project, check out page 32).

Goldsmith forecasts the mining industry will increase construction spending by 18 percent in 2019, primarily related to the fact that Northern Star Resources’ Pogo mine is expanding its operations; two new prospects under development at Teck Resources’ Red Dog Mine; and the expansion of Kinross Gold’s Fort Knox Mine to extend the life of the mine to 2030.

Construction is tied into any industrial project, making it one of the major financial contributors to Alaska’s economy.

When Alaskans are actively planning, financing, and building new projects, that generally bodes well for employment figures and the overall health of the state. Whether through infrastructure improvements, giant oil and gas projects, or small business offices, the growth of the construction industry leads to the same end point: an increase in job availability, improved roads and towns, and more discretionary spending.

We are thrilled at the prospect of Alaska’s return to economic health. Considering the role the construction industry plays in that growth, we are especially pleased this month to feature our Building Alaska Special Section, and we will continue to keep tabs on these projects and all others we anticipate will come down the pike.

Alaska Business

Kathryn Mackenzie Managing Editor, Alaska Business

While Alaska’s economic spring might not have sprung quite yet, it looks like it’s just around the corner.

March 2019 | 7

FINANCE

Funding a Startup with Spotty Credit Know the five “C”s before going for that loan

By Tracy Barbour

F

ew endeavors are more exhilarating than launching a business— especially for entrepreneurs who have an impressive business concept and credit history.

For them, it may be relatively easy to secure a loan to finance a business venture. But that’s not the case for individuals who don’t have the best credit or business idea. Thankfully, there’s a diversity of approaches budding business owners can take to overcome their shortcomings and get the funding they need.

Qualifying for a Loan Having the aspiration to start a business is one thing, but qualifying for a loan to make it happen is another story. So it’s essential for borrowers to understand the requirements they must meet to gain loan approval. Most banks, credit unions, 8 | March 2019

ity—is also important beand other lending institutions cause it indicates the loan assess borrowers using what’s applicant’s ability to reknown as the 5 “C”s of Credit. pay the loan. Collateral (if These areas—credit history, required) can be used to help capacity, capital, collateral, repay the loan in case of deand conditions—help lenders fault, and capital involves liqgauge the creditworthiness uid reserves such as savings of loan applicants. and investments that can Wells Fargo, for example, Andrew Foust Alaska Small Business help the business owner ride closely scrutinizes borrowLeader, Wells Fargo out setbacks. ers’ personal and business Wells Fargo Conditions is a broad area credit (if available) as well as their credit history with the bank itself, where the lender considers the purpose according to Andrew Foust, Wells Far- of the loan and intended use of the go’s Alaska small business leader, who funds. “That’s all the other facts of that is based in the San Francisco Bay Area deal that impact the likelihood of repayand covers Alaska. This information ment,” Foust explains. “For example, in shows their track record for managing Alaska, one of the conditions we have to credit and making payments over time, assess when doing commercial fishing indicating their credit risk. Capacity— vessel loans is the value of their fishing the income amount, type, and stabil- license and what their catch will be.”

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

of your business, and a banker poor credit in the past and what you However, Foust says, manwants to know all of those,” have done to change this behavior. After aging risk in lending is depenLomboy says. “Having that this, the bank may require some more dent upon the unique aspect ongoing communication will money down or extra collateral to be of each deal, so Wells Fargo help the banker understand offered.” uses a personalized approach He adds: “Another option would be that business and be able to to try to meet the financial provide the tools to help the to scale back your business plan to the needs of business owners. point where you can make a significant owner succeed.”

“Well Fargo wants to make evAt Northrim Bank, loan cash injection relative to the size of the ery responsible loan that we Sheila Lomboy Assistant Vice President qualification is also heavily project. This shows your commitment possibly can to every creditCorporate Lending, FNBA contingent upon the borrow- and decreases risk.” worthy business that is pursuFNBA Sometimes, asking the bank if there is er’s demonstrated ability to ing financing,” he says.

First National Bank Alaska also strives to repay. That means evaluating historical any potential counteroffer can be helpmake good loans to as many businesses as numbers. “The bank would like to see ful. “A bank may assume that if it cannot possible, and its loan qualification process cash flow that is 1.25 times the amount offer you exactly what you need, that really depends on the financial strength of the annual loan payments,” says Allen you will not be interested,” Hippler says. of the business owner and other relevant Hippler, vice president, commercial loan “So, turn a ‘no’ into a ‘not now’ by asking factors. “Every loan will be different; it’s officer at Northrim Bank. “Other factors how the situation can be changed in the future so that the bank could not a cookie-cutter approach,” says Sheila include having collateral, the advance the loan.”

Lomboy, vice president of corporate ability to manage the business well, and a good credit lending at First National.

In general, First National reviews two history.”

Leveraging a Loan So is it possible for borrowto three years’ worth of business and Guarantee Program personal financial statements when ers to qualify for a loan if their Borrowers can also capitalize evaluating loan requests. Existing enter- credit is blemished? Possibly. on a loan guarantee program prises that are seeking funds will likely Hippler explains: “To conand other resources to enneed to also submit a detailed business vince a bank to look beyond hance their loan application.

Allen Hippler plan. Business owners should also build poor credit history, it would Loan guarantee programs Commercial Loan Officer Northrim Bank a relationship with their banker. “As an be helpful to have a good can be a viable option for owner, you know the ebb and flows explanation of why there was enhancing the ability of borNorthrim Bank

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“Every loan will be different; it’s not a cookie-cutter approach.”

—Sheila Lomboy Vice President of Corporate Lending First National Bank Alaska

rowers—particularly women and other minorities—to secure financing for their new business.

Government entities like the Small Business Administration (SBA), Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) guarantee repayment of business loans. This reduces the risk for lenders and increases the likelihood of loan approval for borrowers—including those without the strongest financials.

SBA works with eligible lenders to facilitate a variety of loans to small businesses, including loan programs specifically geared for minorities and women. SBA does not lend money directly to business owners, but it sets guidelines for loans made by partnering lenders like First National, Wells Fargo, and Northrim Bank; by community development organizations; and by micro-lending institutions.

SBA guarantees the repayment of the loans that its partnering lenders make.

One of SBA’s key loan programs is 7(a), which allows businesses to borrow $50,000 to $5 million to start or acquire a business. The funds can be used for various purposes, including land, buildings, equipment, inventory, and working capital. Other SBA loan programs include CDC/504, Community Advantage, and Microloan.

In addition, AIDEA provides a number of different programs aimed at financing business, nonprofit, and community projects that have meaningful economic development impacts. AIDEA’s programs provide different opportunities for funding and can be used for new businesses, business expansion, upgrades, capital projects, machinery and equipment, and other business needs.

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develop, and advance the general prosperity and economic welfare of the people of Alaska.

BIA may be another option available to eligible loan applicants. The organization’s mission is to enhance the quality of life, to promote economic opportunity, and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. BIA’s Indian Guaranty Loan Program facilitates access to credit obtained through approved lending institutions by guaranteeing repayment of up to 90 percent of the loan value.

This stimulates the supply of capital for Indian-owned businesses that otherwise may not get funds.

Hippler points out that BIA and SBA are generally designed to help a business get a loan when the idea and loan are already sound but just need a little help to get approved. “They are not designed to compensate for a serious flaw in the business but can make deals possible for the bank and the borrower that were too much of a reach without the SBA or BIA,” he says.

Northrim has had a lot of success working with the BIA loan guarantee program, which is open to businesses

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owned and controlled by tribal enrollees.

However, the bank tries to ensure that all qualified applicants, including women and minorities, have the best opportunity to attain financing, which includes the use of the BIA, SBA, and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, Hippler says. “We succeed when you succeed, and we come up with creative solutions to help you succeed.”

Non-Bank Financing Options Entrepreneurs with off-beat business ideas and weaker credit can also explore non-traditional options. For instance, business owners can explore the financial resources of Evergreen Business Capital Community Finance (EBCCF), Alaska’s only authorized SBA Community Advantage Loan Program lender. EBCCF offers flexible loans for small financing projects, including start-ups. Loans are up to $250,000 with terms as long as ten years. As a nonprofit lender, EBCCF strives to maintain competitive interest rates.

When it comes to lending to new businesses, the risk tolerance may be higher with the Community Advantage Loan Program than traditional banks’ products, according to Theo Ransum, programs loan officer with EBCCF. “Banks also may require more in equity contributed by the borrower than our program requires—30 percent or more as compared to our 10 to 20 percent,” he says.

In terms of loan qualifying, start-up businesses will need to provide a detailed business plan as well as projections of their assumed earnings. In addition, EBCCF may take additional steps to strengthen loan requests. Ransum says, “We would certainly consider the value of business property such as real estate and equipment to collateralize the loan.

With the understanding that new businesses might not yet have those types of assets, a careful assessment of the business’ and borrower’s cash flow is made.

In some cases, we would possibly collateralize personal assets.”

EBCCF also offers a microloan to fund projects up to $15,000. The loan has a five-year term with 100 percent financing in some cases. In addition, EBCCF provides technical assistance to borrowers and directs them to organizations such as the Alaska Small Business Development Center or Alaska SCORE

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

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for more in-depth assistance. SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow, and succeed nationwide.

Alaska Growth Capital (AGC) BIDCO is another alternative lending organization.

AGC provides financing for all business needs, including construction lending, working capital facilities, equipment purchases, and leasehold improvements. They also participate in the SBA and USDA loan guarantee programs.

Loans range from $100,000 to $10 million and normally have terms from three to twenty-five years.

Angel investors, which are often family and friends, also represent a popular nonbank source of business financing. They are willing to infuse a startup company with cash or capital in exchange for ownership or convertible debt because they believe in the company and think it will succeed.

Crowdfunding may also be a viable way to get a new business enterprise off the ground. One of the most prominent examples is Kickstarter, which significantly reduces the funding barrier for entrepreneurs with compelling projects.

“There’s no financial debt on their side

14 | March 2019

because they ask others to gift them the funds,” Lomboy says.

Other Possible Funding Resources Credit-challenged entrepreneurs often manage their financial needs through self-funding, tapping their savings, 401K, or other investment accounts. However, Lomboy advises self-funding business owners to consult with their accountant about the potential withdrawal penalties that could undermine their retirement goals.

As another self-funding option, those who don’t have enough liquid cash reserves can use the equity in their home to fund their business. While this can be a relatively easy business-financing solution for homeowners, it can place their property at risk if they default on the loan.

Getting a secured credit card may also be a possible alternative for some people. The secured credit card can be a good first step because it helps build the relationship with the bank and it helps with the personal credit score.

And as another option, less established individuals may consider either buying

or buying into an existing business by pursuing an owner-financing arrangement. “That allows them to build equity in the business while they address credit issues that may be holding them back,” Foust says.

Owner financing is fairly common in business, and it generally offers flexible repayment terms. “I’ve seen them one, two, and three years. And amortizations will vary from five to thirty years,” Foust says. “Ultimately, most of these types of deals end up with a balloon payment where they buy out the end of that contract.”

Existing business owners seeking cash to fund a new venture or for expansion may be able to take advantage of factoring. Factoring, or selling accounts receivables to a third party at a discount, can be helpful to an established business that is rapidly growing, according to Hippler.

Every Business Is Different There’s no one financing solution that fits everyone. And that’s especially true for loan applicants who have less than perfect credit or a quirky business idea.

That’s one of the reasons Wells Fargo

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

fully implemented its Fast Flex Loan program last year to address a broader segment of borrowers. Under the program, Wells Fargo customers who could not qualify for traditional financing can apply for a Fast Flex loan online and can get their application reviewed very quickly. So far, Fast Flex has been instrumental in helping a number of Wells Fargo customers obtain small loans.

“We’ve been able to expand our ability to lend beyond the areas we were able to in the past,” Foust says. “The reason we’re able to approve those customers is that they often have a strong cash flow that may offset other negative issues.”

Wells Fargo also has a phone-based credit coaching program that is available to all its small business customers in Alaska and elsewhere who have been declined for business credit products offered through its retail banking branches.

The coaches—who are located at Wells Fargo facilities in Chandler, Arizona, and Charlotte, North Carolina—proactively call customers and work with them to help them get the credit they need. Foust explains: “We find that in that process we can make short-term adjustments and maybe reverse that initial decline. We can turn around and get them access to the credit they need months or a year later, depending on the significance of the reason why they were declined.”

Over the last three years, Wells Fargo credit specialists have conducted more than 25,000 credit coaching calls with business customers.

Foust points out that if someone has a poor credit history, they’re always going to have that as a challenge if they don’t address it. Thankfully, a credit history isn’t permanent. The first step to remedying the problem is to take the time to learn exactly what those issues are and resolve them. “Start by getting copies of all your business and personal credit reports,” he says. “If you can’t decipher them, get help from your banker. From there, we can make a plan to help based on that unique situation.”

Lomboy’s best advice for new small business owners is to build and maintain a relationship with their banker. She says, “They can provide you with those financial tools to succeed in your industry.

Having that ongoing communication is key. Full disclosure helps build trust, and as you build trust on both ends, you can succeed better.” www.akbizmag.com

OUR GOAL IS TO HELP YOU REACH YOURS.

We look beyond the figures to figure out what you need.

At our bank, it’s never about what we want.

It’s about what you and your business need.

Our experts sit down, listen, and collaborate with you to find solutions tailored to helping you reach your specific business goals.

Because at the end of the day, our success is only measured by yours.

northrim.com Alaska Business

March 2019 | 15

TELECOM & TECH

Internet for All

How two companies are keeping rural Alaska connected

By Julie Stricker

Much of the material needed to build GCI’s 3,300-mile TERRA network was hauled in piece by piece with a heavy lift helicopter.

GCI

F

or the tens of thousands of Alaskans who live off the road system, the internet has become a key source of information, commerce, and healthcare, as well as a lifeline in the wilderness.

What happens when it goes down?

The short answer is that the telecoms— GCI and Alaska Communications are the major carriers in rural Alaska—try to get the systems back up as quickly as possible. But given Alaska’s huge size, small population, lack of infrastructure, and notoriously bad weather, that is often easier said than done.

GCI and TERRA To start, a robust system with backups and redundancy go a long way toward preventing outages. Alaska Communications’ broadband is diversely routed throughout the state and by undersea cable to the Lower 48. Likewise, GCI maintains fully redundant submarine routes between the Alaska mainland and Lower 48, with links to Juneau and Fairbanks, says Chris Burns, vice president of operations for GCI network services.

“We call that the core network that 16 | March 2019

gets traffic in and out of the state,” Burns says. GCI has staff in Seattle that maintain those facilities.

In Alaska, GCI serves 240 communities with a variety of services, including fiber microwave and satellite earth stations that provide connectivity to the more remote rural areas of the state, Burns says. The company’s centerpiece is called TERRA (Terrestrial for Every Rural Region in Alaska).

GCI’s TERRA network is a massive hybrid microwave-fiber network that brings high-speed broadband service to 45,000 Alaskans in eighty-four rural communities scattered across a mostly roadless region (the size of Texas) from Bethel to communities along the Yukon River, says Heather Handyside, GCI vice president of corporate communications and community engagement.

“Completing the TERRA ring was a big achievement for the company because, really, the ring is the gold standard in terms of redundancy for networks,” Handyside says. “If there does happen to be a break, traffic can be routed around the opposite way of the ring to reach our customers on both sides. That’s one key way that GCI

makes sure that our service is as reliable as possible for our customers.”

Alaska Communications Expands with Satellites Redundancy and backups are also an important part of Alaska Communications’ strategy.

Alaska Communications is the local exchange carrier for forty rural Alaska communities, says Heather Marron, manager of corporate communications.

Alaska Communications is expanding in Alaska using IP-based satellite and fixed wireless technology to offer highspeed, unlimited internet to rural and remote communities, Marron says. The company has also formed a partnership with Quintillion, which is bringing commercially available, high-speed internet to the North Slope.

“Our network brings the highest level of technology, reliability, security, and cloud enablement to Alaska businesses,” Marron says.

For example, rural schools rely on the internet to keep curriculums up to date. In fall 2018, Alaska Communications began

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

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Alaska Communications is expanding in Alaska using IP-based satellite and fixed wireless technology to offer high-speed, unlimited internet to rural and remote communities. The company has also formed a partnership with Quintillion, which is bringing commercially available, high-speed internet to the North Slope. serving the Kuspuk School District with satellite-based internet service, via its new satellite, in partnership with Eutelsat Americas.

“As a district, we have an obligation to provide our students with every possible educational tool to prepare them for an ever-changing workforce. High-quality instruction with access to high-quality internet service is essential to helping students be better prepared to meet future workforce demands,” Superintendent Bernie Grieve said in a news release.

The Kuspuk School District encompasses eight schools and the district offices from Lower Kalskag to Stony River along a

18 | March 2019

120-mile stretch of the middle Kuskokwim River. No roads serve the area, although the river itself usually freezes solid enough during the winter to allow vehicle traffic.

Alaska Communications officials spent time in the region before service began to gauge the needs of the communities, says Bill Bishop, senior vice president of business markets.

“We shared many examples of live video feeds, file transfers, and let district officials see first-hand how our solution could work for them. We are committed to meeting the needs of the faculty, especially the educators, to provide students with necessary tools that are only available online,” he says.

Servicing such remote areas can be challenging, Marron adds. Local power grids can be unreliable, so Alaska Communications has emergency backup power systems.

Its Integrated Network Management System (INMC) monitors the network and systems 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Marron says.

“When the INMC is notified of an outage, technicians and specialists analyze the situation and develop a plan to restore services,” she says. “In some cases, service can be restored remotely. In others, technicians must travel to the location to make the repairs.”

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Weather, Power, and Transportation Weather and the availability of transportation affect the time it takes to make onsite repairs.

“What makes Alaska unique is the challenge presented by our remote population density,” Marron says. “In rural Alaska, our technicians work without standard travel amenities, like lodging and meal availability.”

Technicians must pack everything they need for their trip, including food and water.

“We rely on charter flights to transport heavy equipment,” Marron says. If the weather is bad, or an aircraft and pilot aren’t immediately available, delays can result.

“Once our technicians arrive, transportation around the village can be challenging,” she continues. “Sometimes technicians must walk to where they need to go, carrying their equipment, or take a boat or skiff. In some cases, local residents offer to drive technicians in their personal vehicles or snowmachines.”

Fortunately, such outages aren’t common. Alaska Communications reported eight local exchange service outages

throughout its system in 2018 to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.

GCI has more than sixty full-time and part-time employees that maintain its facilities in rural Alaska.

“There’s a good chance that we have management and technicians, we always say, ‘No more than one hop away,’” says Burns. “That’s a really big commitment from the company to be able to support our internet broadband customers with really local in-market technicians.”

GCI has another group of people, called “site agents,” in more than 140 villages.

“Those folks are available by a phone call to really be what we call remote hands and represent us in those communities we serve,” Burns says. “So when you look at all of our field services staff, and this is just rural and doesn’t include the urban areas like Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau, we have over 250 technicians that support rural Alaska either full-time, part-time, or on call.”

GCI doesn’t keep all its equipment in Anchorage, either, says Handyside.

Much of it is staged at rural hubs, such as Bethel, Nome, or Kotzebue, where rural operations techs are available around the clock.

A helicopter lowers the base of GCI’s Igichuk tower into place in Northwest Alaska.

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Alaska Business

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GCI’s Igichuk tower connects communities in Northwest Alaska.

GCI

“They’re there, the facilities are there ready to go out at a moment’s notice,” Handyside says. “And something that we’re really proud of—we say that our technicians are the toughest in North America. You go to the Lower 48 and maybe their technicians just jump in a van

and drive down the highway to do repairs.

Our guys are grabbing their equipment and going out in subzero weather, jumping on snowmachines, they have to get on airplanes to service our communities.

So we really do have a great tough crew that we’re really proud of.”

At the heart of GCI’s system is its technical assistance center in Anchorage, Burns says.

“They’re monitoring the network every day, every hour of the day, every day of the year,” Burns says. “It’s like a dispatch center for emergency services; it’s the same type of methodology. They’re looking at alarms coming from mountaintops and huts around Alaska, and we can real-time call local site agents or technicians to respond.”

The managers strategically allocate technicians and equipment around the state so no site is more than one hop away.

Additionally, GCI has divided the state into four regions, each with its own manager and staff, Burns says. That way they’re not dependent on Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau for all of their support services.

“We try to be as self-sufficient inmarket as we can with the support of other centralized locations like the regional hubs,” he says.

The most frequent cause for outages is loss of power. The weather is second, although many times it is the cause for the outage in the first place, Burns says. Both can contribute to equipment failures.

Just providing power and backup power for GCI’s remote network sites can be challenging, Handyside says. The refueling effort for mountaintop sites alone can take several months.

“Every year we need to transport diesel to these mountaintop generators,” Handyside says. “Each generator can hold 5,000 gallons of diesel. It really is a logistics effort in itself to use a specialty helicopter to reach the twenty-four mountaintop sites. We’ve got a very slim window to do that, due to weather, due to wildlife migration patterns… We go the extra mile and do everything possible to ensure that the networks remain up and running.”

As far as how long it takes to restore an outage, Burns says that depends entirely on the location and weather. If the weather is good, it might only take hours. If technicians get weathered in, it might be days.

Cyber Threats Poor weather and equipment failure aren’t the only threats to Alaska’s telecom networks. Alaska Communications 20 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

offers a range of managed information technology services to Alaska Native corporations and local governments in remote communities such as Dillingham, Sitka, Ketchikan, McGrath, Dutch Harbor, Unalakleet, Kotzebue, Nome, and Nushagak.

“Along with general IT support, cybersecurity is a critical focus for businesses,” Marron says. Alaska Communications works with businesses in these communities to design, build, and manage a variety of IT services.

“Alaska Communications engineers follow current cyber trends and employ industry-best practices to protect against attacks,” says Marron.

Over the past twenty years, telecom and internet technology has spread to all corners of the state and is an integral part of everyday life. The state’s telecoms are working to keep service up-to-date and affordable. Alaska Communications notes that it has not raised its rates for basic telephone service since 2004.

“Serving remote areas has become increasingly challenging and expensive,” Marron says. “Over time, both the federal and state governments have reduced support for service to high-cost, remote areas, creating significant challenges in serving these communities.”

Despite the challenges, both companies are committed to maintaining and improving their rural Alaska networks. GCI upgraded service to more than thirty-five communities in 2018, Handyside says.

“I don’t know that TERRA will ever be done and we’re always looking at ways to connect new communities,” Handyside says. “Making a financial case for this kind of massive investment can be challenging and that’s why GCI is always looking at ways we can build a financial model that makes sense to build very complicated and often very expensive networks and spurs to reach very small communities with very small populations.”

The networks have also become an important safety net for rural residents.

“There’s more than one story about someone surviving a plane accident, an air travel accident, and being able to reach somebody because they had connectivity through GCI,” Handyside says.

“So it is really not a luxury or a convenience. It really can be a life safety service that we provide.” www.akbizmag.com

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Stay Safe with Specialized Insurance

INSUR ANCE

Protecting Alaska’s most dangerous industries

By Tracy Barbour

A

s a state that’s heavily focused on tects workers and employers from some resource development, Alaska is of the losses caused by job-related acknown for having some of the cidents and illnesses. Under the Alaska most hazardous industries. These spe- Workers’ Compensation Act, all employcialized industries employ various types ers with at least one full- or part-time of insurance to protect their operations, employee must purchase and maintain employees, customers, and the general workers’ comp policies to cover their employees. public.

Liability insurance is a part of the genNo two businesses are identical and every operation has its own insurance eral insurance system of risk financing exposures and risks. However, there designed to protect the purchaser from are some core elements of insurance the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims. It protects the programs that traverse industries.

Most companies in Alaska—regardless insured company if it’s sued for claims if they’re involved with resource devel- that come within the coverage of the inopment—utilize some type of liability surance policy.

There are different kinds of liabilicoverage, workers’ compensation, propty insurance, and the type a company erty, and commercial auto insurance. chooses will depend on the “The policies, themselves, nature of the business. Some can be endorsed with speof the most common kinds cific coverages necessary for of liability coverages are geneach client’s exposure,” says eral liability and professional Christopher Pobieglo, presliability (also known as erident of Business Insurance rors and omissions). General Associates. “You can also layer liability provides coverage in additional coverages, such for bodily injury, personal inas professional liability, emChristopher Pobieglo jury, and property damage ployment practices liability, President, Business caused by the company’s opor cyber liability, depending Insurance Associates erations. Professional liability on the exposure of those Business Insurance Associates insurance helps protect entibusinesses.”

State-mandated workers’ compensation ties that provide professional advice or insurance is the most commonplace services against bearing the full cost of insurance for businesses in Alaska. It pro- defending against a negligence claim.

22 | March 2019

Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft, and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, and earthquake insurance.

Commercial auto insurance, as the name indicates, provides liability and physical damage coverage for vehicles used by a business, including cars, vans, commercial trucks, and other types of vehicles. It covers injuries that the owner or employees may cause to other people and their property while driving. And a typical commercial auto policy may include liability coverage.

Cyber liability insurance helps cover costs associated with the liability of a claim or suit related to a cyber attack or data breach. This type of coverage, often called cyber risk insurance, is growing in use with the constant increase in cyber security threats. Cyber security is a big exposure because almost every business has an online presence.

Umbrella insurance is a key type of insurance for Alaska businesses that need more coverage to protect their assets. Essentially, umbrella insurance is extra liability insurance that offers additional protection for losses that are not covered by the other policies. Typically, an umbrella or excess policy goes over the general liability,

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workers’ comp, and other insurance, according to ConradHouston Insurance Vice President Michael Dennis.

In more specific terms, here’s how an umbrella policy works: when an insured is liable to someone, the insured’s primary insurance polMichael Dennis Vice President icies pay up to their limits and Conrad-Houston Insurance any additional amount is paid Conrad-Houston Insurance by the umbrella policy. So it picks up where other liability insurance you have explains. leaves off.

Larger companies often purchase umbrella policies as an extra precaution to protect their net worth. “Umbrella policies may be necessary if the insured has a lot at risk, if a contract requires it, or they have a ton of assets you’re trying to protect,” Dennis says.

and marinas. It covers cleanup, third-party property damage, subsistence, assessment of and damage to natural resources, loss of revenue and profits by third parties, loss of public services, defense, investigation, advertising, civil penalties, criminal fines, and defense and interest. “With vessels or any time you have operations near the water, pollution concerns,” Pobieglo

Coverage for Oil and Gas Companies in the energy sector use a variety of liability insurance, based on their activities. For example, a business hauling rigs for an oil company would need a policy tailored to their responsibility to other people’s property, says Lynne Seville, principal and account executive with Parker, Smith & Feek.

Other activities would necessitate liability insurance to cover their employees, property, and other people’s property.

For example, oil and gas companies have exposure related to well explosions or plants burning up, both of which can

Commercial Fishing Insurance The commercial fishing industry has some of the most hazardous jobs in Alaska. In fact, commercial fishing has the second-highest number of fatalities, which makes insurance protection essential for workers in the industry.

“Worker safety is paramount beyond liability,” Pobieglo says.

There are several federal regulations that cover workers and others who are injured engaging in maritime-related activities. These laws include the Jones Act—also known as the Merchant Marine Act—and the US Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (USL&H).

The Jones Act allows crew members to recover for damages caused by injury while working on a vessel. USL&H covers similar provisions for non-crew members.

Commercial fishing businesses also typically carry hull insurance to cover the body of their vessel, protection and indemnity insurance to protect the crew, and cargo insurance to offer protection against the destruction of the property carried on board.

Liability insurance is also a common coverage area in the commercial fishing industry. Most vessels, Pobieglo says, will need watercraft liability, which is excluded from a general liability policy.

Many commercial fishing businesses also carry pollution liability insurance, which provides coverage from spills or threats of spills involving entities like fishing vessels, shipyards, yacht dealers, www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 23

catastrophic losses,” Pobieglo endanger people and consays. taminate sites. “Whenever In other cases, they may you may end up harming set up their own insurance someone else, you may company, known as a caphave a potential liability for tive insurance company. This them. And you can cover that type of self insurance can help through some type of liability larger companies minimize insurance,” Seville says. the expense of covering their For this reason, pollution Lynne J. Seville Principal and Account liabilities—which can be exliability is a major concern in Executive pensive to insure. “The benefit the energy sector and many Parker, Smith & Feek of it is additional profit opporoil and gas companies have Parker, Smith & Feek tunity, particularly if the risk coverage in this area, according to Dennis. In the event of a management system performs well and spill or accident, pollution insurance they don’t have losses that they have to can help oil and gas companies with the pay out,” he says.

Liability is also a chief concern for busicleanup of contaminated ground water.

“It’s based on the requirements of what nesses that support oil and gas compathey’re doing, but it’s typical to sell it to nies. Typically, insurance requirements somebody who’s transferring fuel or are pretty stiff with oil field and gas field who has a pipeline or tanks,” Dennis says. support contractors. “They usually reLarge producers in the energy sec- quire higher limits of coverage, umbreltor have higher liability. Consequently, las, a lot of contract endorsements like they are highly insured and usually carry additional insured and waivers of submultiple layers of excess coverage. Larg- rogation,” Pobieglo explains. “They are er companies such as BP or ExxonMobil transferring a lot of that risk down to the tend to have self-insurance programs. subcontractor.”

USL&H coverage is also applicable And in some cases, they will have a mixed approach. “They will self insure the small- to the energy sector. Any individuals er losses and use reinsurance to cover working on, over, or near “navigable waters” of the United States have to be provided USL&H benefits, which are typically better than the state’s workers’ compensation benefits, according to Pobieglo. This law was originally created to protect workers engaged in stevedoring and ship building operations, but it has since been expanded to encompass nearly any employee or company whose work takes them on navigable waters. This includes marine contractors, diving contractors, service companies supplying equipment “on the water,” and ship repair operations. “A lot of folks can run into that requirement even if they’re Contact us to find out. not necessarily marine or maritime contractors,” he says.

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Alaska Owned & Operated Since 1979 24 | March 2019

Mining Insurance The insurance required by different mining businesses also depends on their particular operations. On the lower end of the risks are the owner-operated surface mines that are mining their own plot of land or panning in water or old creek beds.

They need general liability, coverage for equipment, and workers’ compensation insurance if they have laborers.

With larger operations like Usibelli, Pogo, or Fort Knox, there may be self

insurance, reinsurance, and captive insurance companies involved. These types of companies will often have different layers of coverage for auto, equipment, and property insurance.

However, Pobieglo says, many of the risks for mines are not insurable, such as regulatory and legislative risks.

Some types of mining operations require a more unique approach to securing insurance coverage. Pobieglo explains: “For explosive mining, your standard liability policy probably excludes explosives. Carriers can put ‘explosion underground collapse’ on someone’s policy. Or the underwriting would tighten up with an operation that includes explosives.”

Seville says mining operations can have a huge environmental risk, making pollution insurance a major requirement.

Marine, property, and production insurance are also required. For example, if they have promised customers a certain amount of resources, they would insure against production [product coverage], she says. “It’s basically failure to produce.”

Businesses that handle explosives create a general liability exposure to others around them. So mining operations using explosive devices need to ensure this type of risk is addressed by their liability coverage.

Incidentally, it’s harder to place the insurance for companies that handle explosives because fewer carriers are willing to write it. However, a mining company can minimize risk in this area by having another business do the blasting for them.

Insurance for Construction Within the construction industry, companies generally need liability, auto, and building coverage insurance, according to Dennis. And depending on their policy, they can use a builder’s risk policy—which falls under the inland marine category—to cover a building during construction, equipment, tools, and even lumber while it’s being shipped or on site.

Individuals who are involved in the construction industry could also have professional liability if they’re doing any kind of design build or stamping plans (such as architects and engineers).

Construction contractors also have certain needs when it comes to commercial insurance. “A lot of them are

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driven by contracts,” Pobieglo says. “In some cases you satisfy that requirement by endorsing current coverages. One of the big ones is pollution coverage, which can be specially crafted to cover certain premises or hazardous material being transported.”

Surety bonds are often a key requirement for construction contractors. A surety bond is a three-party agreement in which a surety or bonding company promises to pay another party if a contractor does not satisfy his or her obligation. Contract, or construction bonds as they’re often called, constitute the majority of the bonds used in Alaska.

Primarily used in the public arena, surety bonds are designed to ensure that projects are fulfilled according to the terms of a contract. “They’re requiring these bonds to protect tax payer dollars,” Pobieglo says.

One of the biggest concerns in construction, Seville says, is covering completed operations exposure. As a result, many construction companies purchase completed operations insurance to cover their liability for property damage or injuries to a third party once the contracted project is finished.

Possible scenarios related to this type of insurance: six months after a roofing contractor finishes work at a bank, melting snow enters through the roof and ruins multiple network servers; a railing that a metalworker installed collapses when a person leans on it and the person falls ten feet and suffers severe back injuries; or a recently-installed overhead door closes on top of a car.

Trucking and Transportation Insurance As a state that’s heavily engaged in transportation, Alaska has a great deal of trucking exposure. Brokerage houses often farm out work to independent contractors with their own truck. In those cases, the individual drivers are responsible for carrying their own insurance.

Trucking and transportation industry companies also require basic auto, general liability, property, and inland marine insurance (for property not licensed for road use such as cranes and dozers).

Pollution insurance is also essential to cover the presence of anything that’s where it’s not supposed to be. “A pollutant can be milk if it gets into the water supply,” Dennis says. www.akbizmag.com

“A lot of [commercial construction insurance needs] are driven by contracts. In some cases you satisfy that requirement by endorsing current coverages. One of the big ones is pollution coverage, which can be specially crafted to cover certain premises or hazardous material being transported.”

—Christopher Pobieglo, President Business Insurance Associates

In the trucking industry, the catastrophic risk is higher, and accidents with larger trucks can be very expensive.

Many trucking companies carry cargo insurance to cover the goods they are hauling, which can be pretty expensive, Pobieglo says. “A lot of the time, truckers have excess limits and need higher umbrellas than the typical $2 million that is often covered,” he says. “We can add another $5 million.”

In addition, there’s a MCS-90 endorsement that attaches to the trucker’s auto policy. MCS-90 Endorsement coverage, which is designed with the interest of the public in mind, is proof from the motor carrier’s insurance provider that when an accident happens, restitution will be paid no matter what. “It constitutes proof that the insurance carrier has met all the financial requirements under federal regulations for motor carriers,” Pobieglo says.

Insurance Needs of Other Industries Alaska companies that engage in tourism and small-plane cargo operations also have specific insurance needs. For example, tourism—which encompasses everything from cruise ships, hunting, and fishing guides to the Alaska Railroad—is largely dependent on general liability and property insurance.

From there, the insurance needs can vary according to the intricacies of the operations. For instance, businesses need the proper liability coverage for the particular modes of transportation they Alaska Business

employ, whether it’s buses, boats, or planes. Likewise, a lodge or hotel would need to cover different exposure. A hotel will need general liability and perhaps an umbrella worth several million dollars. “Some hotel franchises require a $10 million umbrella,” Dennis says. “The umbrella depends on your level of risk and how many assets you have and your contract.”

In tourism, companies also need protection for legal agreements. “For example, if you’re running a snow machine operation, we recommend that you have your participants sign a waiver holding you blameless,” Pobieglo says. “If you’re dealing with other people, the use of waivers is definitely recommended, done in connection with a legal professional.”

Small-plane cargo operations also have unique insurance requirements.

These businesses, which keep much of Western Alaska supplied with goods, often need general liability, aircraft liability, and cargo insurance.

Industry aside, some risks are un­ insurable and others are too expensive to insure. That’s why it’s important for businesses to work with a broker who understands their industry and can provide the most appropriate protection.

“The stakes are high,” Pobieglo says.

The key is to sit down, identify the risk, and determine how to mitigate it, Seville says. “It’s not just enough to know the risk you’re trying to control, but it’s also about knowing what you’re not controlling.”

March 2019 | 25

OIL & GAS

The LNG Saga AGDC reorganizes, returns to stage-gate approach

By Isaac Stone Simonelli

G

overnor Mike Dunleavy’s shakeup of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) board in January put four new people on the sevenmember team in charge of pushing forward the Last Frontier’s long-anticipated North Slope pipeline project.

The board quickly moved to name Joe Dubler as the interim president.

“I’m going to start by restoring the stage-gate approach to advancing this project. I’ve already asked the AGDC team to insert a stage-gate in order to fully evaluate and understand the project’s current status and potential. We will have stage-gates at every major decision point in order to determine whether to continue on to the next phase of the project,” Dubler says. “I am going to re-engage Alaska’s Legislature, which plays an important role in evaluating this project on behalf of the state.”

The new members to the AGDC board are Chair Doug Smith, who previously served as the president and CEO of ASRC Energy Services and on the boards of the Resource Development Council and Alaska Support Industry Alliance; Vice Chair Dan Coffey, previously chairman of the Alaska Board of Fisheries, chairman of the Anchorage Energy Commission, and member of the AGDC Community Advisory Council; Tamika Ledbetter, commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development; and Jason Brune, who serves as the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

“I’m optimistic about the Alaska LNG project. Prior to being hired as interim president, I spent six years working with AGDC and could not be more thrilled to play a new role here, working with our new administration and new board 26 | March 2019

AGDC Vice President of Commercial and Economics Lieza Wilcox (left) and ExxonMobil Alaska President Darlene Gates sign a gas sales precedent agreement on September 10, 2018.

AGDC

composition to make sure we have the right resources and participants to make this work,” Dubler says. “We have a real opportunity to unlock the benefits of our North Slope gas to enhance the lives of all Alaskans.”

Viable Financing The most daunting task ahead of AGDC is bringing investors on board and proving to the legislature that the pipeline is economically viable.

“It has to be economic. The state can’t make a $45 billion outlay and then expect to spend decades redeeming that investment,” says State Senate President Cathy Giessel. “The state of Alaska cannot afford to do this on our own. [The] legislature is very aware of that. It’s the largest, private-sector project in the world, and for a state government to

fund the whole thing is just not logical.”

The current plan for the project will see a 42-inch pipeline run 807 miles from a gas treatment plant in Prudhoe Bay to a liquefaction facility in Nikiski.

“The Alaska North Slope super basin is the largest proven, but currently stranded, natural gas resource in North America,” AGDC Communications Manager Jesse Carlstrom says. “The pipeline route follows existing infrastructure: it parallels the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and haul road for the first (approximately) 400 miles and the Parks Highway for the second (approximately) 400 miles.”

For nearly fifty years, Alaska has exported LNG from Nikiski—about 6 percent of the output capacity of the state’s proposed development. In 2015, the 1969 plant went into a “warm

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shutdown,” meaning it is now capable of liquefying 0.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day, or 1.5 million tonnes of LNG per year. “The proposed Alaska LNG liquefaction facility is slated to be near the existing LNG infrastructure and its qualified workforce,” Carlstrom says.

The 600-plus acres for the new plant in Nikiski are owned by the Alaska LNG producer partners.

“AGDC is actively meeting with these producers to engage them in a variety of possible ways to progress the project,” Carlstrom says.

But even if AGDC acquires the rights to the about 900 acres of total land it needs in Nikiski, there remains the issue of financing the project.

“The project faced a setback in 2016 when three of the project’s four partners— BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil— pulled out. The sole remaining partner in the project was state-owned AGDC,” Carlstrom says.

“I just think we are at a competitive disadvantage due to economics and due to the fact that the state is going it alone,” says Larry Persily, former head of the federal office for Alaska North Slope

natural gas pipeline projects. “We have no partners and the state doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to do anything.

So, I think this project is far from being ripe for success, despite all the good intentions.”

However, AGDC is actively meeting with third parties to discuss the requisite private sector involvement in the project, Carlstrom confirms.

“Bringing Alaska’s North Slope natural gas to market is an incredible opportunity with daunting challenges. Our opportunity is well understood and is defined by the size of our reservoir and our proximity to a large and rapidly growing market,” Dubler says. “However, the size and complexity of the logistics involved in bringing our gas to market require that the state has partners with the technical and commercial expertise.”

Last year, AGDC signed a contract with Goldman Sachs and the Bank of China to assist in raising multiple rounds of debt and equity investment.

Equity offerings are slated to be made to Alaska municipalities, Native corporations, and all Alaska residents in addition to more traditional private equity investors, as required by state Senate Bill

138, which set up the initial commercial framework for the project in 2014.

“Bank of China and Goldman Sachs are well positioned to provide AGDC with world-class institutional knowledge and resources required to arrange the equity and debt financing to build Alaska’s natural gas infrastructure and LNG export project,” former-AGDC President Keith Meyer said in a news release last year.

However, given the shift from a schedule driven process to the industry standard stage-gate process, plans for an equity roadshow are on hold at this time.

“AGDC plans to seek strategic investors as part of the project viability review in 2019 in order to advance Alaska LNG and share in the risk. We will keep the Dunleavy administration and Alaska’s Legislature apprised of any potential strategic investors prior to entering into agreements,” Carlstrom says.

Before AGDC can accept any money from outside investors, it must get approval from the legislature.

“The legislature is going to continue to ask the administration, ‘What have you done to model the economics of this?’

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We’re going to be asking AGDC this, too,” Giessel says. “The Department of Revenue is supposed to be working with AGDC looking at the economic modeling of the project so that legislators know what we can expect in revenue from this project.”

Is AK LNG Competitive?

AGDC’s partners pulled out of the pipeline project following a report by Wood Mackenzie—commissioned by BP, ExxonMobil, and the state—which said that the Alaska project was “one of the least competitive” LNG projects in the world.

“There is no shortage of natural gas in the world and there is no shortage of projects that are more economical or viable and more ready than ours,” Persily says, before naming a number of projects as examples, including the Shelllead LNG Canada venture and projects in the Gulf of Mexico, Mozambique, and the Russian Arctic.

Carlstrom makes a different argument.

“The costs of Alaska LNG project components are comparable to other projects around the world. The LNG Canada project, estimated to cost ap-

www.akbizmag.com

proximately US $30 billion, is comparable to Alaska LNG,” Carlstrom says, noting the Canadian project will produce 13 tonnes of LNG per annum, compared to Alaska LNG’s 20 tonnes of LNG per year.

“Our LNG can be shipped with competitive seven-to-nine-day routes directly to major markets without transit through any canals or third-party ‘transit’ countries. For comparison, shipments from US Gulf Coast projects take approximately thirty days and must transit the Panama Canal to reach Asia.

Alaska and the US offer a very stable political climate.”

Lower shipping costs would allow Alaska LNG to be competitive in the Asian market despite the higher initial infrastructure costs, Carlstrom says.

Access to the Asia market is significant, since Japan accounts for 28.8 percent of LNG imports and market shares by country, followed by China at 13.5 percent and South Korea at 13.2 percent.

“Asia, and specifically northeast Asia, is the world’s largest and fastest growing LNG market. Global energy research firm Wood Mackenzie reported in December 2018 that demand in Northeast Asia is

Alaska Business

on track to potentially quadruple to 80 million tonnes per annum by 2030,” Carlstrom says.

AGDC has confidential and nonbinding cooperative agreements with China’s state-owned Sinopec Group, the Bank of China, and CIC Capital, a subsidiary of China Investment Corp.

All parties agreed in January to a six-month extension to negotiate and to conclude definitive agreements for the LNG project. However, such nonbinding agreements, including one signed by BP in May, fall short of real progress, says Persily.

“These are far from commitments to write checks and sign binding contracts,” Persily says. “China is interested if they can get a good deal. And a good deal for China—a good deal for the buyer isn’t necessarily a good deal for the seller and that applies to everything from used cars and trailer homes to condos. Their interests are just not the same as ours.”

However, there are several bright spots on the horizon for the project, including the return of the stage-gate approach and the final environmental impact statement (EIS) due out in November.

March 2019 | 29

A stage-gate approach, which was in place until 2016, allows the state to review where the project stands, what partners the state can rely on to provide the necessary expertise to complete the project, and what the commercial situation is in order to make an informed go or no-go decision based on the project’s commercial viability, explains Carlstrom.

“Each step in a stage-gate review provides leadership with the opportunity to advance the project to the next stage, pause the project if changes are needed, or to halt the project if economic circumstances warrant,” Carlstrom says.

30 | March 2019

EIS Milestone One milestone for the project that nearly everyone sees as a positive move in the development of the pipeline is the draft EIS, slated for completion this month, with a final EIS in November. If that timeline holds, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) would be able to take action on AGDC’s project application in March 2020.

“Aside from the fact that I don’t think it’s going to get built in the near future, getting a draft environmental impact statement is an accomplishment,” Persily says. “It has value. It’s essentially a building

permit. They don’t have to use it the next day. The state and producers put hundreds of millions of dollars into it. It would be good to finish that off, have it, even if you put it on the shelf.”

With the EIS, AGDC would be able to legally break ground in 2020, which was the stated plan prior to bringing back the stage-gate process.

“AGDC will insert a stage-gate at this point in the project to review where it currently stands and take that review time to simultaneously solicit partners the state can rely upon to provide the necessary expertise to complete the project,” Carlstrom says. “AGDC will continue to pursue the FERC license for the Alaska LNG project.”

When the time is right—meaning the economics are right—the Alaska LNG project stands to greatly benefit the Last Frontier, say its proponents.

“Alaska LNG will provide Alaska North Slope natural gas to Alaskans. Because North Slope natural gas discoveries are currently stranded, no natural gas exploration has occurred. Infrastructure to treat and transport North Slope natural gas will spur both oil and gas exploration on Alaska’s North Slope,” Carlstrom says.

“This should provide an incentive to explorers currently working on the Slope, as well as attract new companies to the state.”

Carlstrom’s list of additional benefits include affordable energy for domestic and industrial use; broad international environmental benefits stemming from decreased reliance on coal in Asia; 12,000 direct jobs during construction and 1,000 direct jobs during operation; revenue to the state, municipalities, and North Slope lease holders; and up to 20 percent of revenue from the state’s royalty gas that can be invested in the Alaska Affordable Energy Fund to offset the high cost of energy in rural Alaska.

“There’s still a lot of questions about all aspects of the project. But I think this new board will give a fresh look to that,” Giessel says. “I’m a lifelong Alaskan, and right after oil started being tapped the expectation was that gas would be flowing, as well. We’re forty years later, and we’re still working on this gas project. I hear from constituents that this will never happen, but the encouragement for them is that we are now further on commercializing our gas and distributing it to Alaskans than we’ve ever been.”

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

H R M AT T E R S

Tackling the High Cost of Alaskan Healthcare

W

hen you read the word, “Healthcare,” I bet your first thought is, “My insurance premium and out-of-pocket costs are killing me.” For business owners, increasing healthcare costs are squeezing out other investments and limiting growth opportunities.

But it is not all bad news; positive things are happening too. We are Alaskans, after all. How many of us just shrug our shoulders and give up when a problem arises? Growing up in Fairbanks, I learned from my family, friends, and neighbors that when we see a problem, we craft a solution.

Parker, Smith & Feek, partners with the nonprofit Pacific Health Coalition (PHC) to do just that. PHC was formed two decades ago to create opportunities for lower costs, more flexibility, and better access to healthcare.

About the Pacific Health Coalition When it comes to saving money for Alaskans and employers throughout the Northwest, PHC is always looking for ways to innovate and provide quality care more efficiently. Their 250,000 members aggregate spending power to save a combined $500 million a year in healthcare costs.

PHC works with innovative partners like Aetna, Alaska Regional Hospital, Beacon Occupational Health, Alaska Center for ENT, Anchorage Fracture and Orthopedic Clinic, and others to ensure that their patients get the best possible

HR Matters is sponsored content that is provided by

By Greg Loudon care at the best possible price.

PHC hosts and manages health fairs throughout Alaska and Washington each fall. In 2018, they held nineteen health fairs in eleven cities, providing flu shots and preventive screenings to 7,000 people. Additionally, over the last few years, PHC opened primary care clinics in Fairbanks and Anchorage, reducing costs while improving access for their members and families.

Soon, the partnership between PHC and Aetna will allow small businesses to participate in and take advantage of PHC’s considerable purchasing power and expertise. This new option will provide cost savings for Alaskan employers.

Several years ago, PHC began offering options for employees who wanted to travel outside Alaska for care. A partnership forged with Anchorage Fracture and Orthopedic Clinic last fall will now help keep Alaskans home for surgery by cutting costs in half for many procedures, allowing patients to stay close to their families and support systems.

Pacific Health Coalition’s Impact on Alaskan Healthcare Why are these partnerships and innovations important? They demonstrate that private sector organizations, like PHC and its peers, have the flexibility needed to make a significant impact on Alaska’s healthcare costs. Unlike a state-run organization, they can quickly adapt and work on creative solutions that make a difference in Alaska. The Alaska

Chamber recently passed a resolution encouraging our legislators to look at private sector solutions before implementing a state-run healthcare authority.

I am encouraged by what PHC and many similar private sector organizations are accomplishing. PHC is committed to working with the state and other private sector innovators to find practical solutions to foster a better Alaska healthcare system with quality care and lower costs. If you are interested in learning more about PHC or other healthcare resources for Alaskans, contact an experienced employee benefits broker for more information.

Greg Loudon is a Principal of Parker, Smith & Feek and leads our Employee Benefits practice. A lifelong Alaskan, Greg has more than 20 years of experience in employee benefits consulting and is active in state and national healthcare reform. Greg can be reached at gsloudon@psfinc.com or (907) 865-6829.

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | JOB OUTLOOK

Construction Job Outlook: Cloudy The silver lining— hundreds of millions of dollars in projects coming

By Brad Joyal

I

n October 2018, former Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Heidi Drygas said: “We’re about to ramp up on some pretty significant projects in Alaska. We have all this work going on, on the North Slope; we have a boom in military construction in the Interior and other Interior build out projects. We have an expansion of mining at Fort Knox and Kensington; Donlin Gold looks like it’s going to come online, and they’re all happening at the same time.” That statement ignited talk about the construction industry and what the state could expect in the near future.

While the North Slope and the Interior are carrying the brunt of Alaska’s construction projects, other areas of the state, including Anchorage, are missing the major projects that would attract workers— both from the state and Outside—in droves. Overall, the state’s construction landscape continues to inch toward brighter pastures.

Fairbanks F-35s Department of Labor and Workforce Development Economist Karinne Wiebold says the department recently completed its forecast for 2019 and believes there will be an estimated 900 new construction jobs available throughout the state this year. According to Wiebold, the majority of those jobs are connected to the F-35 bed down at Eielson Air Force 32 | March 2019

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BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | JOB OUTLOOK

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BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | JOB OUTLOOK

“They’re talking as many as 800 units of housing that will need to be constructed, multi-families and single families in the North Pole and Fairbanks communities. That’s going to take a lot of workforce.”

—Bill Popp President/CEO, AEDC

Base. Although the F-35 project started slowly in 2018, it will ramp up this spring and summertime. In September 2018, the Final Fairbanks North Star Borough Eielson Air Force Base Regional Growth Plan was released, stating the project will bring more than $500 million of construction to the North Star Borough.

But the construction of several projects related to housing the F-35s isn’t limited to the base. Integrating the F35s is expected to create more than 4,000 new jobs by 2022, and some are esti-

34 | March 2019

mating that 800 new housing units will be required in the Eielson, Fairbanks, and North Pole area. Infrastructure doesn’t build itself, and these projects spell out a necessary influx of construction workers in the Interior.

“There’s a very significant housing need in the Fairbanks area off-base,” says Bill Popp, president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. “They’re talking as many as 800 units of housing that will need to be constructed, multi-families and single families in the North Pole and Fairbanks

communities. That’s going to take a lot of workforce. That’s a lot of housing to be built in that area. It’s going to be a nice shot in the arm for the construction trades not only in Fairbanks but statewide, because there’s going to be a lot of contractors that are going to have to come in help with that.”

Among the companies already involved in preparing for the F-35s is Watterson Construction, which currently has multiple projects at the air force base.

“Right now, there’s an incredible amount of work at Eielson for the F-35.

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“Right now, there’s an incredible amount of work at Eielson for the F-35. We actually have five

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They’ll be cleaned up in the spring,” says Bill Watterson, company president, who estimates his Anchorage-based company will employ between 120 and 140 people this summer. “As far as the workforce is concerned, right now we have about 40 people working on one weather shelter at Eielson. We have a second weather shelter which we will start up again about the first of March.

That will end up—with all the subs and everything—we’ll probably have 75 people working on it at a time. Then we have another one that we’re going to start up in the spring that we’ll have, including subs, 30 people at a time.”

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be spending about $640 million in Alaska in 2019. That’s about a $90 million increase over 2018.”

—Bill Popp President/CEO AEDC

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workers from Outside, adding that the bulk of any additional hires will likely be made at Fort Greely.

According to Popp, the F-35 project will continue to gain traction throughout this year.

“We do know that Army Corps of Engineers is going to be spending about $640 million in Alaska in 2019,” he says.

“That’s about a $90 million increase over 2018. That mostly revolves around the Interior and mostly revolves around the F-35.”

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Wiebold is not concerned that there will be a shortage of qualified people to fill the estimated 1,000 positions coming open this year.

“From an economist perspective, those jobs will be filled,” she says. “They’ll either attract laborers from Alaska who are not doing anything or are doing something else and could get paid more doing construction. Some people might come up to Alaska to work these jobs, and they’ll either go home afterwards or they’ll stay. Construction has always had nonresident workers in Alaska. Over the past twenty years or so, it’s been about 20 percent of our construction workers are nonresident workers. Those jobs will be filled.”

Anchorage-based economist Neil Fried agrees with Wiebold’s assessment, adding that the industry is slowly grow-

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“From an economist perspective, those jobs will be filled. They’ll either attract laborers from Alaska who are not doing anything or are doing something else and could get paid more doing construction. Some

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | JOB OUTLOOK

ing, not leaping forward at such a rapid rate that it should warrant concern. “It’s a better market because it is starting to recover some,” Fried says. “But it’s certainly not booming. Overall construction activity, from a historical standpoint, is still pretty low.”

While a construction worker shortage is not currently looming, it’s important to note that some construction workers that may have been laid off or out of work in recent years have likely moved on to other opportunities or moved out of the state. As the construction industry recovers and moves forward, Outside economies and forces will have an impact on the availability of labor.

“The challenge is that down in Seattle, that area is a super hot market for construction right now,” Popp says. “Things are just happening down there in that whole general area. They’ve got a continuing boom in that region. That’s our

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next door neighbor when it comes to the United States, and we’ve probably lost a fair number of people to that market in the construction trade. I think it’s reasonable to assume we’ve lost a number of workers or potential workers.”

Earthquake Recovery One unexpected area of construction that will be ongoing throughout 2019 is earthquake recovery. Immediately after the 7.0 magnitude quake struck Anchorage on November 30, the Department of Transportation began to reach out to companies to help restore the region after

significant damage impacted roads and infrastructure. Among the companies eager to help out was Anchorage-based Mass Excavation.

“It was exciting. Guys jumped on it,” Mass Excavation General Manager Mark Erickson says of having an opportunity to get the state back on its feet. “They’re typically laid off by this time of year and not working, so they got an extra opportunity to put a paycheck in their pockets. It was a different mentality—it was just ‘Go!’ There’s no regulatory baloney that you’re waiting for permits and waiting for this and that, it was just like, ‘We have to get this

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done.’ It was a whole different premise.”

Erickson says that Mass Excavation had conducted limited work with the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities in the past, but the opportunity to help with earthquake recovery was rewarding for him and his employees. “It was a good opportunity for us to demonstrate our capabilities to react and handle this type of situation, so it was kind of fun in that regard.”

Popp says, “There’s just not a lot of big [construction] projects,” in Anchorage, but he is optimistic that earthquake recovery activities will continue to create jobs around the region.

“Earthquake repair work is going on and probably will be going on for several months,” he says. “If there is a silver lining to the earthquake, it’s the fact that it happened when it did, which is a benefit in the fact this is a low season for construction. There are a lot of folks that are sitting on their normal winter sideline that got called back into work, so we’re going to see a nice boost in that category. The trick will be how much work will be created by earthquake major renovations, major rebuilds, demolition, and new construction that may result once final decisions are made on buildings in Anchorage, Eagle River, and the rest of the region that were significantly damaged and ultimately might have to be demolished or replaced.”

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Even with projects already underway at Eielson and more expected to ramp up on the North Slope throughout 2019, industry experts still say there is some cause for concern about how many projects will take off and how many workers they’ll require. Part of the uncertainty surrounding the landscape is the fact that there’s still a lingering effect from when the oil price took a drastic dip in late 2015. The fall in oil prices slowed oilfield-related construction in many instances and resulted in reduced revenue being collected in state coffers, which significantly impacted funding available for state projects.

However, as oil companies pursue recent finds and opportunities on the North Slope, Popp says the entire state will see the benefits. “The big projects that are being proposed on the North Slope are good news,” he says. “We want those big projects, and they’re going to have a multiplier

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

putting out a capital budget other than federal pass-through dollars. That’s created a fairly significant vacuum in the construction industry for new projects coming online.”

—Bill Popp President/CEO, AEDC

effect on our state because not only will there be the direct result of employment for those projects but then you’ll have the benefit of the new production that they’re going to bring online, and that will help our state have a capital budget again.

“That’s probably one of the biggest problems we’ve had in addition to the slow economy—it has not helped that our state government has completely shut down on putting out a capital budget other than federal pass-through dollars. That’s created a fairly significant vacuum in the construction industry for new projects coming online. We’ve been

pretty much relying on federal dollars and private sector dollars for capital projects, and the state is kind of just not a player in that field right now. It’s not reinvesting in itself. It’s not doing the needed maintenance projects, the upgrade projects, let alone new projects. That’s a problem, and it’s creating a void in our state construction picture.”

In Anchorage, there is a major project on the horizon: Popp points to the reconstruction of the Port of Alaska as something that will take years to complete and estimates significant plans will begin being finalized in the coming years.

“That’s going to be critical,” he says.

“There was a collective holding of breath right after the earthquake as we waited to find out if the port had been irreplaceably damaged or if it had reached a point where it was going to be out of action for a while, because that would’ve been devastating to the state’s economy. Its reconstruction has to happen.”

The overall outlook for Alaska’s construction is different throughout the state, but the good news is the industry continues to take steps in the right direction.

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Alaska Business

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BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | JOB OUTLOOK

“It has not helped that our state government has completely shut down on

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | PROJECTS

Stantec’s aviation team is working with DOT&PF to install security fencing at the Nome Airport, in part to keep muskox off the runway.

Stantec

Building Western Alaska DOT&PF and Department of Education projects dominate regional construction activity

I

By Tasha Anderson

n the Alaska Construction Spending Forecast 2019, Scott Goldsmith forecasts that there will be increased public project transportation spending in 2019 statewide, including $682 million on highways and roads and $424 million on airports, ports, and harbors. This is a 6 percent and 3 percent increase over 2018, respectively. Combined transportation projects are estimated to total nearly $1 billion, which is approximately half of projected public construction project spending (excluding national defense) across the state.

DOT&PF Projects Several Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities projects are taking place in Western Alaska.

In Aniak, the $38 million Aniak Airport 40 | March 2019

Runway Shift project “will shift the entire 6,000-foot-long runway 260 feet laterally to comply with Federal Aviation Administration safety requirements,” according to engineering and design firm Stantec, which designed the project. Construction began in 2018, continues this year, and has an anticipated completion date of 2020. To “shift” the runway, the scope of work includes a new runway and runway safety area, new taxiways, apron reconstruction, relocation of 1,900 feet of road, removal of obstacles and obstructions (including several buildings), drainage improvements, utility relocation, security fencing, contaminated soil remediation, and relocation of FAA NAVAIDS. “The runway-shift will ‘rightsize’ the runway for the current fleet mix at the airport, which includes mostly Dash-8s, Beech 1900s, Saab 2000s, and Cessna Caravans,” according to Stantec.

At the Dillingham airport, the Dillingham Airport Gate Improvements project is slated for completion by the end of September. This project, for which Stantec is providing design services, has a scope of work that includes new fencing, gates, access controls, roadway embankment, asphalt paving, signs, and markings to upgrade the fence gates and provide access control to Dillingham Airport. The contractor for the $2.2 million project is JJC Enterprises.

Also slated for completion this year is the $1.9 million Nome Airport Fence Installation. Knik Construction Company has been selected as the contractor and Stantec provided design services for this project to install perimeter fencing and construct new access and service roads at the airport. According to Stantec, “The project includes new chain link fencing, as well as buck and rail fence, intended

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

the airport lighting, replacing the segmented circle, and rehabilitating and applying dust palliative to the existing runway, taxiway, and apron area.

Kiana Airport Improvements—Now in its second year of construction, this project includes reconstructing the runway; expanding the apron and taxiway; removing and replacing a lighted wind cone; removing and replacing a PAPI pad, as well as installing a new PAPI and runway end identifier lights; resurfacing the apron and airport access road; removing and relocating the segmented circle; and constructing a material access road.

Holy Cross Airport Rehab and Lighting— The scope of work at the Holy Cross Airport includes installing and upgrading airport NAVAIDS, incorporating the existing electrical lighting equipment into the snow removal equipment building; removing and replacing existing runway and taxiway lighting; and installing 9 inches of crush aggregate surface course with dust palliative on the runway, taxiway, and apron.

Selawik Footbridge Rehabilitation— This $1 million to $2.5 million project rehabilitating East Fork Selawik Footbridge #1292 and West Fork Selawik Footbridge

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—Scott Goldsmith Professor Emeritus of Economics, ISER

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March 2019 | 41

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | PROJECTS

to prohibit trespass by the local muskox herd. Currently, airport personnel use airport fire trucks to chase the muskox off the runway. The new fence should cause the animals to seek areas off airport property with easier access for grazing.”

Stantec is also working on the South Naknek Runway Resurfacing project; DOT&PF’s in-house design time is providing design services for the project that includes resurfacing of the existing main runway, crosswind runway, taxiways, and apron. In support of the DOT&PF team, Stantec is providing electrical design for the airport’s new lighting system. It’s anticipated this $5 million to $10 million project will go out to bid for construction this spring.

Also included in DOT&PF’s 2019 funding program in Western Alaska, among other projects, are: Kotlik Airport Rehabilitation—Estimated at a cost between $5 million and $10 million, the scope of work includes removing existing obstructions, upgrading

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | PROJECTS

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“The forward movement [for the Nome deepdraft port] started in February 2018 when the City of Nome signed a cost-share agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to complete the feasibility study phase, which is now a two-year study, so we are about halfway through.”

—Joy Baker, Port Director City of Nome

#1401 includes replacing surface boards, repairing and improving bridge landings, repairing a chain link fence and steel cross bracing, approach foundation repair, and relocating electrical utilities.

Port of Nome In good news for the Western and Arctic regions of Alaska, progress continues on the deep-draft port at Nome. “The forward movement started in February 2018 when the City of Nome signed a cost-share agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to complete the feasibility study phase, which is now a two-year study, so we are about halfway through,” states Joy Baker, port director for the City of Nome.

An initial study into a deep-draft port at Nome was paused in 2015 and officially terminated in 2017; the 2015 pause was precipitated by the announcement by Royal Dutch Shell that it was pulling out of Alaska, ceasing its plans for offshore oil and gas exploration. “This brought into question the validity of the economic assumptions and overall justification of the federal project,” said Bruce Sexauer, chief of the Civil Works Branch of the US Army Corps of Engineers–Alaska District, in a February 2018 release.

However, as City of Nome and other officials continued to engage with the Corps, it became clear that a deep-draft

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port in Nome may still be justifiable considering both anticipated increases in traffic as Arctic waters continue to open up and Nome’s role as a hub for the region. The same Corps release states, “The new investigation will examine a wider array of benefits than the previous study, including Nome’s role as a regional hub for surrounding communities that rely on fuel and goods.”

Baker explains that while the City of Nome is an equal partner in the cost-share agreement, the study is “managed and controlled” by the Corps, which has established the timeline for the study and the milestones within it. The estimated cost of the study is approximately $3 million, with about $1 million spent in 2018 and roughly $2 million in costs anticipated for 2019.

The City of Nome has already secured the approximately $1.5 million needed for its portion of the cost of the study.

As of press, Baker anticipated there would be a Tentatively Selected Plan by the end of February, “which would be followed by a focused analysis and evaluation of that alternative.” If the project moves ahead as tentatively planned, construction would begin in 2023. “We are making progress and moving ahead,” Baker says.

Commons area at the new Nightmute K-12 School.

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Education Construction In Alaska’s Construction Spending Forecast 2019, Goldsmith projects state education

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spending will be $248 million and “comes mostly from state government, and it will be marginally higher this year due to an increase in direct state funding for rural and urban schools.”

Goldsmith says the largest projects include new schools under construction at Tuntutuliak and Atmautluak and renovation to schools located in Shishmaref and Aniak, which are all in Western Alaska.

The Nightmute K-12 School Renovation and Addition project in the Lower Kuskokwim school district has entered Phase II, which is scheduled for completion this summer. Stantec provided design services for the project that “added 26,825 square feet of new program space to the salvaged 3,330-square-foot portion of the existing school,” according to Stantec. UIC Construction is the contractor for this project that was divided into two phases.

Phase I was comprised of a new gym, kitchen, commons area, classrooms, administrative offices, and a water/ wastewater treatment plant. “Phase II will focus on renovating the existing school and creating a new art/science classroom, career tech lab, and simulation lab,” Stantec explains of the $30.8 million project.

Looking forward, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has released the FY2020 Capital Project Priority Lists; the School Construction list ranks eleven priorities, of which more than half are located in Western Alaska, including the Eek K-12 School Renovation/ Addition (ranked first); Anna Tobeluk Memorial K-12 School Renovation/ Addition (ranked third); and the Mertarvik K-12 School Construction Newtok Replacement (ranked sixth).

Construction activities promote a healthy economy in any location, but are particularly important in rural locations that often don’t have a plethora of economic opportunities, which characterizes the majority of Western Alaska.

As Goldsmith states, “The payrolls and profits from this construction activity support businesses in every community in the state. As this income is spent and circulates through local economies, it generates jobs in businesses as diverse as restaurants, dentist’s offices, and furniture stores.”

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BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

2019 Alaska Business

Construction Directory Construction—Commercial, Industrial Suppliers

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

ABC 401 Driveway St. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-457-2221

Susan Ellison, Pres.

1995 1995

21 21

akabc.com | info@akabc.com | ak.abc.inc eneral contractor specializing in energy efficient remodeling and product sales. SeamG less siding and gutters, windows, doors, all remodeling. Material sales include: commercial doors, windows, store front, metal siding, metal flashing, door hardware, window wells.

Ace Supply 2425 E. Fifth Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-277-4113

Erick Smith, Pres.

1962 1962

4 4

P etroleum handling equipment for commercial, industrial, and aviation industries. Pumps, meters, reels, filters, and tank monitors as well as fuel testing equipment.

AirSide Solutions 2222 W. Valley Hwy. N., Suite 140 Auburn, WA 98001 Phone: 253-833-6434

Rick Lafferty, VP/Region Mgr.

1978 1988

10 0

A irSide Solutions is a full line provider of Airfield and Heliport Lighted Navigation systems, technical services, and logistics support to the aviation market in Alaska.

Alaska Dreams 2081 Van Horn Rd., Suite 2 Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-455-7712

Meini Huser, Pres.

1994 1994

30 30

alaskadreamsinc.com | sales@alaskadreamsinc.com esign, sales, and construction of fabric covered steel building and pre-engineered metal D buildings.

Alaska Industrial Hardware 2192 Viking Dr. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-276-7201

Terry Shurtleff, Pres./CEO

1959 1959

185 185

aih.com I ndustrial/construction supplies; power tools; hand tools; safety; fasteners; maintenance and janitorial; material handling; outerwear.

Alaska Rubber & Rigging Supply 5811 Old Seward Hwy. Anchorage, AK 99518-1479 Phone: 907-562-2200

Janeece Higgins, CEO

1981 1981

120 60

alaskarubber.com | info@alaskaruber.com | AKRubbber | Alaska_Supply A K’s largest supplier of hydraulic and industrial hose assemblies and associated products; specialize in fabrication/testing of wire rope, chain and synthetic slings for overhead lifting and rigging; supply and service fueling, lubrication and pressure washing equipment, hydraulic pumps, motors, cylinders and valves.

Alaska Textiles 620 W. Fireweed Ln. Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-265-4880

Clif Burnette, Pres.

1978 1978

24 24

korbana.com e are the number one supplier of FRC Apparel, to include our very own Korbana ProtecW tive Apparel, in Alaska, North Dakota and around the world. With a highly trained sales staff we make customer service and quality control our priorities.

All Steel 1974 Livengood Ave. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-479-6002

Michael Kralman, Pres.

1998 1998

19 19

steelsthedeal.com | allsteel.info@gmail.com anufacturer of steel roofing and trim, light gauge steel building packages, trusses, stud, M track, soffit, gutters. Plants located in Fairbanks and Wasilla.

Altrol Heating, Cooling & Plumbing 2295 Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-452-8680

David Bridges, Pres./GM

1982 1982

22 22

altrolinc.com | dave@altrolinc.com | altrolinc.com eating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, sheet metal, appliance, and refrigeration H contracting and service company.

Anchorage True Value Hardware 9001 Jewel Lake Rd., #5 Anchorage, AK 99502 Phone: 907-248-9211

Shannon Berry, Owner

1949 1949

25 25

anchoragetruevalue.com | anchoragehardware@truevalue.net T raditional retail hardware store with core departments: tools, hardware, plumbing, electrical, paint, and seasonal products.

Arctic Solar Ventures 745 W. Fourth Ave., Suite 101 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-268-4188

Jackie Savina, VP

2015 2015

8 8

A rctic Solar Ventures is Alaska’s premium solar provider, specializing in grid-direct solar photovoltaic systems and solid-state battery storage. Whether for home, business, or utility-scale, ASV designs and engineers projects to exacting specifications to last more than thirty years.

Diane Shaishnikoff, Owner/Mgr.

2004 2004

7 7

beringshairock@gmail.com ative-owned and operated business specializing in the production and placement of N high-quality rock materials, as well as providing heavy equipment rentals and services for any type of small or large construction project, including airports, boat harbors, and road building projects.

Dennis Wilfer, Pres.

1992 1992

40 40

crpipeandsteel.com | salesj@crpipe.net | crpipe e offer new and used pipe (1/2”-60”), structural pipe, pilings, well casing pipe, bollards, W steel posts, culverts, and more. C&R Pipe and Steel in Fairbanks is the largest pipe distributor in Alaska. When you choose us, you gain access to more than 7,500 tons of steel pipe in our inventory.

Kurt Echols, Pres.

1999 1999

5 5

cabinefever.net | kurt@cabinetfever.net | Cabinet Fever ommercial and residential custom cabinet shop producing high-end custom kitchen C cabinets, counter tops, and installation as well as custom furniture, entertainment centers, reception desks, medical, dental, and retail casework, store fixtures. Also carry two lines of manufactured residential cabinets.

Bering Shai Rock & Gravel PO Box 196 Unalaska, AK 99685 Phone: 907-581-1409 C & R Pipe and Steel 401 E. Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-456-8386 Cabinet Fever 8220 Petersburg St., Suite 1 Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-349-4871

46 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Carberry Associates PO Box 242563 Anchorage, AK 99524 Phone: 907-227-1598

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Tom Carberry, Owner

1994 1994

1 1

carberryassociateis@acsalaska.net Manufacturer’s representative for specialty, commercial building products.

Michael Cooper, VP

1959 1959

26 26

thewarmguys.com | info@thewarmguys.com | CentralPlumbingHeating entral Plumbing & Heating is an Alaskan family-owned and operated company since C 1959. Visit our kitchen and bath showroom, our fireplace and heating showroom, our DIY parts counter, or schedule an appointment with our service department. We can help you with “Everything AND the kitchen sink.”

Delta Leasing 8101 Dimond Hook Dr. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-771-1300

Rudi von Imhof, Pres.

2002 2002

45 45

deltaleasing.com S pecialized leasing of fleet trucks, SUVs, vans, and shuttle buses, as well as construction and mining equipment, oil and gas equipment. GM, Dodge, and International warranty repair center. Alaskan-owned. Deadline driven. Results oriented. Anchorage/Kenai/ Prudhoe Bay/Fairbanks/Remote Alaska.

Door Systems of Alaska 18727 Old Glenn Hwy. Chugiak, AK 99567 Phone: 907-688-3367

Beth Bergh, Owner

2000 2000

11 11

doorsystemsak.com ommercial/industrial/architectural doors. Modernfold Flat wall partitions and Accordion C Partitions, Skyfold vertical partitions. Rolling doors, grilles, shutters. Fire-rated rolling doors. McGuire dock equipment. EPD/Renlita Hangar doors and blast-resistant doors.

DXP| Alaska Pump & Supply 8401 Brayton Dr. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-563-3424

David Little, CEO

1908 1978

Equipment Source 1919 Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-458-9049

Nick Ferree, GM

2000 2000

38 30

equipmentsourceinc.com | FAI-Sales@EquipSrc.com E SI designs, develops, and builds quality, innovative worksite products for the oil, mining, construction, and agriculture industries. All of our products are built Arctic tough, built to last, and tested in challenging environments. We also specialize in Kubota tractors. Salesservice-parts-rentals.

Haltness Equipment 205 Meals Ave. Valdez, AK 99686 Phone: 907-835-5418

Erik Haltness, Mgr.

1987 1987

10 10

haltness.com | sales@haltness.com Equipment rentals and sales.

Hayden Electric Motors 4191 Old Seward Hwy. Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-561-1073

Roger Saunders, VP/GM

1959 1959

10 10

Hayden-ak.com | roger@hayden-ak.com S ales, service, and rewinding of electric motors and generators and associated equipment.

Onsite service calls. re-certification of explosion-proof motors.

Central Plumbing & Heating 212 E. International Airport Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-562-2511

Serving industrial, municipal and commercial customers, DXP | Alaska Pump & Supply is 2,400 at the leading edge of technology providing the best rotating equipment, bearing and PT, 20 MROP, safety products, expert service and engineered solutions from skids to complete modules. Field services are available.

Building Alaska with ‘Quality’ and Precision!

GENERAL CONTRACTORS SPECIALIZING IN HEAVY CIVIL CONSTRUCTION

• Airport Runways • Roads • Highways

• Asphalt Products • Concrete Products • Pre-Stress

Quality Asphalt Paving I 240 W. 68th Ave. I Anchorage, AK I Ph: 907-522-2211 I Fax: 907-344-5798 www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 47

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Luis Suarez, Owner/Partner

2003 2003

6 6

inspiredclosetsalaska.com | organized@inspiredclosetsalaska.com inspiredclosetsanchorage | icanchorage Inspired Closets Alaska provides residential and commercial custom storage solutions to the entire state. Our product has application for every part of the business or home. We specialize in retail displays, medical, and business offices.

K&H Civil Constructors PO Box 877037 Wasilla, AK 99687 Phone: 907-373-4133

Matthew Ketchum, Owner/Mng. Member

2016 2016

15 15

khcivil.com | matt@khcivil.com P ublic works civil general contractor (MatSu Borough) and construction aggregate supplier within the city limits of Wasilla (commercial and retail sales).

Lifewater Engineering Company 1963 Donald Ave. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-458-7024

Bob Tsigonis, Pres./PE

1998 1998

9 9

LifewaterEngineering.com ustom fabrication of welded plastic tanks, boats, and other products including sewage C treatment plants for man camps, homes, and lodges in the most extreme climates and remote places. For Rough Duty Boats, visit www.Class5Boatworks.com.

Magic Metals 530 E. Steel Lp. Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-746-7800

Ramona Laulainen, Ops Mgr.

1981 1981

9 9

magicmetalsinc.com | magicmetals@mtaonline.net agic Metals manufactures a variety of roofing and architectural metal products as well M as custom trim and accessories. We are open to retail and wholesale customers and offer great customer service and quick turnaround. Perforation on panels and trim is available.

Matheson Tri-Gas 6350 Arctic Blvd.

Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-6644

Scott Kallman, Pres./CEO

1927 2016

McGrady Steel & Supply Co. PO Box 110161 Anchorage, AK 99511 Phone: 907-562-7527

Paul Mc Grady, Pres.

1990 1991

1 1

Structural and miscellaneous steel.

Stacy Stoltenow, VP

1995 2005

67 10

mthousing.net | office@mthousing.net ining/logging camps, construction camps, construction offices, jobsite engineering M units, industrial facilities, laboratories, field offices, dormitory buildings, office buildings, urban housing, shower and locker room facilities, medical buildings, exercise buildings, classrooms, survival units.

Mike Mehl, VP Sales

1969 1969

260 24

mfcp.com S erving Alaska for forty-seven years, we offer products and services to the mining, petroleum, and construction industries in Fairbanks and Anchorage. MFCP provides Parker Hannifin fluid power components and all other types of industrial and hydraulic hoses, fittings, and accessories.

Inspired Closets Alaska 507 E. Ship Creek Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-278-2288

Modular Transportable Housing 3116 Commercial Dr. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 877-929-9902 Motion & Flow Control Products 1716 N. Post Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-277-1406

mathesongas.com Matheson Tri-Gas is a single source provider of industrial and specialty cylinder gases, 9,000 gas handling and welding equipment, high performance purification systems, and related 19 hardgoods and safety equipment. The company also provides support services and system management services.

Engineering Results for Alaskan Communities Since 1979 Energy Efficiency Industrial Hygiene Engineering Design Environmental Remediation Hazardous Materials Management

Regulatory Compliance Support Certified Inspection Services HSE Program Development Contingency Planning Tank Inspections

FAIRBANKS ANCHORAGE JUNEAU JUNEAU FAIRBANKS ANCHORAGE 907-452-5688 907-222-2445 907-222-2445 907-586-6813 907-452-5688 907-586-6813

Learn more at www.nortechengr.com 48 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Nick Morgan, Fbx. Branch Mgr.

MotionIndustries.com | MotionInd | mimotionind | motion-industries A leading distributor of industrial maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) replacement 1970 6,900+ parts (more than 7 million parts) including bearings, power transmission, hydraulic/pneu2010 12 matic components, linear, hydraulic/industrial hose, industrial and safety supplies, process pumps, seals, and material handling.

Motion Industries 611 E. Int. Airport Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-5565

Matt Bailey, Anch. Branch Mgr.

MotionIndustries.com | MotionInd | mimotionind | motion-industries A leading distributor of industrial maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) replacement 1970 6,900+ parts (more than 7 million parts), including bearings, power transmission, hydraulic/pneu2010 12 matic components, linear, hydraulic/industrial hose, industrial & safety supplies, process pumps, seals and material handling.

N C Machinery 6450 Arctic Blvd.

Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-786-7500

John Harnish, CEO

1926 1926

Northland Wood Products 4000 S. Cushman St. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-452-4000

Jason Knoles, Pres.

1965 1965

50 50

B uilding supplier. Produces WWPA-graded surfaced lumber, rough lumber, large timbers, and house logs. Stocks materials to fulfill all building needs.

Northland Wood Products 6841 Brayton Dr. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-452-4000

James Enochs, Anch. Mgr.

1965 1965

50 50

northlnadwood.com | northlandwood@acsalaska.net B uilding supplier. Produce WWPA-graded surfaced lumber, rough lumber, large timber, and house logs. Stocks materials to fulfill all building needs from the foundation piers to the roof screws.

NorthStar Supply PO Box 3637 Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-357-1147

Richell Carmichael, Owner

2017 2017

5 5

nssalaska.com | info@nssalaska.com | NorthStarSupply | northstar-supply e supply civil construction materials specializing in geotextiles, erosion control, asphalt W maintenance, and dust control products. Conveniently located in Wasilla with a large inventory and the ability to deliver anywhere in the state.

1982 1983

140 10

Motion Industries 1895 Van Horn Rd., Unit A Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-452-4488

PCE Pacific 4730 Business Park Blvd.

Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-243-3833 Rain for Rent 53325 Henley Ave. Kenai, AK 99611 Phone: 907-283-4487

John Lake, CEO

1934 2002

ncmachinery.com at machine sales, parts, service, and rental. Cat engines for marine, power generation, 1,012 C 208 truck, petroleum, and industrial applications. Sales and rental of Cat and other preferred brands of rental equipment and construction supplies.

Industrial automation.

rainforrent.com | rharris@rainforrent.com 1,700 P ump, tank, pipe, filtration solutions for environmental, construction, and oilfield 4 operations.

When experience meets ingenuity, you get The Solutions Company • Safe, cost effective solutions to the most challenging projects • From the Arctic to the Gulf Coast • Full facility removal, asbestos, remediation, waste management, demolition and site work

Central Environmental Inc.

CEI I The Solutions Company

Locations: Anchorage I Fairbanks I Las Vegas I Los Angeles 888-876-0125 I www.cei-alaska.com I #centralenvironmentalinc www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 49

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

Sherwin-Williams 35444 Kenai Spur Hwy. Soldotna, AK 99669 Phone: 907-262-4674

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

John Morikis, CEO

1896 125,000 sherwin-williams.com 1978 40 P aint and coating supplies. From home to boat, we have it all.

Mike Brunke, AK Mgr.

1974 1974

46 3

specialty-products.com | mikeb@specialty-products.com anufacturer and distributor of polyurethane spray and pour foams, polyurea elastomer M coatings, and application equipment. Solutions for oil and gas, mining, wastewater, building insulation, marine, and many other industries. Year-round 24/7 tech support, classroom and offsite training.

Spill Shield 2000 W. International Airport Rd., #D-2 Anchorage, AK 99502 Phone: 907-561-6033

Lark Christensen, Ops Mgr.

1992 1992

4 4

arcticincinerator.com | lark@spillshield.com S upplier for Smart Ash, Oil Away, Drug Terminator, and MediBurn incinerators. Absorbents, water scrubbers, oil spill response kits, Super Sacks, harbor boom, nitrile gloves, MicroBlaze, absorbent pads, rolls, boom, sock, duck ponds, spill kits, and related oil spill cleanup and prevention products.

Stusser Electric Company 411 E. 54th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-561-1061

David Lockwood, Mgr.

1957 5,000+ Electrical wholesale products and supplies.

1980 23

Surveyors Exchange Co. 3630 Springer St. Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-561-6501

David Wilmarth, Owner

1969 1969

Swagelok Alaska 341 E. 56th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-5630

Tarek Sheira, Mgr. AK Sales/Ops

1965 1965

Specialty Products 1425 Spar Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-276-7932

20 20

alaska.swagelok.com/en | info@alaska.swagelok.com 4,800 10 Instrumentation and fluid system components. Authorized Swagelok distributor for Alaska.

The Plans Room 4831 Old Seward Hwy., Suite 202 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-563-2029

1982 1982

4 4

Tioga Air Heaters 4810 Lilac Dr. N. Minneapolis, MN 55429 Phone: 763-525-4000

1963 -

150 -

50 | March 2019

Greg Gundrum, VP Industrial

satellitephonesak.com | satphoneinfo@tse-ak.com satellitephonesak | surveyorsexchange Satellite phone sales and rentals, auto-desk software, surveying instruments, sales, rentals and service.

theplansroom.com | mail@theplansroom.com Alaska’s number one online information center for the construction industry. mobileair.com | ggundrum@tiogahvac.com T ioga provides direct- and indirect-fired air heating solutions to industrial applications in the world’s most extreme environments. Our portable and skid mounted equipment guarantees greater uptime for our customers and the industry’s most reliable, efficient, user-friendly solutions.

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Truckwell of Alaska 5801 Silverado Way Anchorage, AK 99519-1659 Phone: 907-349-8845

Kris Swanson, Pres.

1989 1989

20 20

truckwell.info | info@truckwell.com | truckwell T ruck equipment and custom fabrication specializing in harsh environments and oil field support.

West-Mark Service Center-Fairbanks 3050 Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709 Phone: 907-451-8265

Scott Vincent, CEO

1967 2009

175 9

Liquid transportation tank trailer repair.

Matt Atkins, GM/VP

1978 1978

47 35

yukonfire.com | matkins@yukonfire.com F ire and gas detection and suppression system design, supply, installation, and service.

Alaska’s only representative of Detector Electronics. Kidde Fire Systems, Marioff Hi-Fog, Ansul, Tyco Fire Protection Products, CWSI Wireless Fire Alarm, Foam Suppression, Marine Systems, compliance inspections.

Yukon Fire Protection Services 5601 Silverado Way Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-3608

Construction—Electrical Contractors

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

Allied Alaska Electric PO Box 876310 Wasilla, AK 99687 Phone: 907-373-3893

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Janette Brown, Mng. Member

2001 2001

8 8

alliedalaskaelectricllc.com | allied@alliedalaskaelectricllc.com Allied-Alaska-Electric-LLC-214001702078772 Electrical contractor.

Arctic Energy PO Box 220110 Anchorage, AK 99522 Phone: 907-382-7772

Greg Porter, Pres.

2012 2012

5 4

arcticenergyalaska.com | gporter@arcticenergyalaska.com arcticenergyinc | in/greg-porter-a834a921 Founded in 2012, Arctic Energy provides combined heat and power energy solutions and distributed generation throughout Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and extreme locations, such as Greenland and Antarctica.

Arctic Solar Ventures 745 W. Fourth Ave., Suite 101 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-268-4188

Jackie Savina, VP

2015 2015

8 8

A rctic Solar Ventures is Alaska’s Premium Solar Provider, specializing in grid-direct solar photovoltaic systems and solid-state battery storage. Whether for home, business, or utility-scale, ASV designs and engineers projects to exacting specifications to last more than thirty years.

Ed Gohr, CEO

2007 2007

600 225

deltaconstructors.net elta Constructors specializes in construction management (estimating, planning, D scheduling and project execution) and direct hire construction for structural, piping, mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation disciplines in support of up- and mid-stream oil and gas development.

Delta Constructors 3000 C St., Suite 202 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-771-5800

FOR SALE UGASHIK BARGE Kvichak Queen Steel Barge with square chine and welded seams Length: 80’ Beam: 33’ Depth: 5’7” Draft: 4’ Net Weight: 134 Tons Full marine survey available upon request • Hull has 8” half-round steel stiffener around entire hull, 8” half round steel tube mid hull • Stern deck pump house holds diesel engine, Vickers hydraulic pump and Lima 4kw generator, 8’ x 12’ vented storage area (not designed for living quarters) For more info please contact: • 2’ x 5’10” starboard aft workbench station Steven Alvarez • Flooring is 6” x 1” fir wood planking • Marine electronics include insulated braided wiring with safety Ugashik Traditional Village Office switches, electrical panel with breakers, amp and volt meters 907-338-7611 • Crouse-Hinds remote control cabin mounted spotlight, navigation manager@ugashikvillage.com safety lights www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 51

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Dan Graham, Pres.

2011 2011

28 6

beringstraits.com | dgraham@beringstraits.com E agle Eye provides slate of construction, electrical, and environmental services to meet the needs of government and private-sector customers. We leverage this experience to our customers’ advantage. Eagle Eye has a reputation for sustained customer satisfaction and offers an impressive performance.

New Horizons Telecom 901 Cope Industrial Way Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-761-6000

Leighton Lee, CEO

1978 1978

80 80

nhtiusa.com T elecommunications design and construction. In-house engineering, installation and project management services for urban and remote communications facilities, OSP and ISP cabling, as well as electrical and communications equipment installation and integration.

Raven Electric 8015 Schoon St. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-349-9668

Dave House, Pres.

1978 1978

23 23

F ull service electrical company, residential commercial, industrial and generators. Data, telecommunications, and security. 24-hour service.

Siemens Industry 5333 Fairbanks St., Unit B Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-2242

siemens.com | leverette.hoover@siemens.com Energy Services Company and System Integrator: to include automation/energy man1849 377,000 agement control systems, fire alarm, HVAC mechanical systems, security (card access, Leverette Hoover, GM AK/HI/Pacific Rim 1982 100 CCTV, intrusion, etc.), audio, video solutions, mass notification systems, and electrical distribution.

TDX Government Services Group 3601 C St., Suite 1000 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-278-2312

Benjamin English, Pres.

Eagle Eye Electric 3301 C St., Suite 400 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-334-8300

1973 1973

100 30

tdxservices.com | benglish@tdxservices.com Construction, remote power O&M, controls and switchgear manufacturing/install.

Construction—General Contractors

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

360 General 5400 Eielson St. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-868-8880

Tyler Loken

2015 2015

2 2

360general.com | General contractor.

ABC 401 Driveway St. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-457-2221

Susan Ellison, Pres.

1995 1995

21 21

akabc.com | info@akabc.com | ak.abc.inc eneral contractor specializing in energy efficient remodeling and product sales. SeamG less siding and gutters, windows, doors, all remodeling. Material sales include: commercial doors, windows, store front, metal siding, metal flashing, door hardware, window wells.

N O I S S E MPRE

I

N AG N G I S MAKE A R om O c .

O a k D s N la WITH I -3584 pipa 74 2 ) 7 0 9 (

52 | March 2019

tyler@360general.com

cs i h p a r Wall G cs i h p a r Door G cs i h p a r Floor G cs i h p a r G w o d n i W ge a n g i S Acrylic ers t s o P & s r e n n Ba

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Ahtna Construction 110 W. 38th Ave., Suite 100 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-929-5612

David O’Donnell, Pres./CEO

1974 1974

250 225

P ipeline and ROW maintenance, street and highway construction, electrical and mechanical services, rock and gravel processing, and water/sewer line installation.

Ahtna Environmental Services 110 W. 38th Ave., Suite 200A Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-644-0760

Tim Finnigan, Pres.

2010 2010

172 67

aeiak.com S pecializes in the execution of time-sensitive, complex, and multifaceted environmental, engineering, construction, and professional services projects for government and commercial clients.

Air Temp Alaska 5406 Lake Otis Pkwy.

Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-349-4503

Dana Bertolini, Co-Owner

1992 1992

22 22

S ervice, repair, and maintenance of commercial and residential heating and air conditioning systems; airflow, ventilation, controls, and trouble-shooting.

Alaska Dreams 2081 Van Horn Rd., Suite 2 Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-455-7712

Meini Huser, Pres.

1994 1994

30 30

alaskadreamsinc.com | sales@alaskadreamsinc.com esign, sales, and construction of fabric covered steel building and pre-engineered metal D buildings.

Alaska Quality Builders PO Box 674 Willow, AK 99688 Phone: 907-495-6200

Karrol Johnson, Pres.

1994 1994

10 10

alaskaqualitybuilders.com | akqualitybuilders@outlook.com Alaskaqualitybuilders Residential and commercial construction: home building, warehouses and shops (any size), additions, remodels, garages, decks, docks, and, of course, custom homes. “We Build Dreams.”

Alborn Construction 118 E. International Airport Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-276-4400

Adam Alborn, Pres.

2001 2001

7 7

Albornconstruction.com | info@albornconstruction.com F ull service commercial and residential general contracting. Specializing in tenant improvements, building modifications, home additions, and renovations.

Arctic Solar Ventures 745 W. Fourth Ave., Suite 101 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-268-4188

Jackie Savina, VP

2015 2015

8 8

A rctic Solar Ventures is Alaska’s premium solar provider, specializing in grid-direct solar photovoltaic systems and solid-state battery storage. Whether for home, business, or utility-scale, ASV designs and engineers projects to exacting specifications to last more than thirty years.

Audio Video Installation & Design 4021 Iona Cir. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-561-9473

Dan Siira, Owner

1993 1993

5 5

avidalaska.com | dan@avidalaska.com S mart home automation, home theater design and installation, speakers, business conference rooms, lighting and blinds.

THE SPAN ADVANTAGE

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From our service representatives to our drivers, warehouse crew, and logistics team, Span goes the extra mile, for you.

Five-star customer service is only a phone call away. Reach us at 1-800-257-7726 or visit spanalaska.com to get started.

Serving Alaska since 1978 www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 53

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

BC Excavating 2251 Cinnabar Lp. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-344-4492

Gordon Bartel, Pres.

1982 1982

35 35

bcxllc.net omplete hauling and excavation services, environmental, water, sewer and storm C utilities, site work, hydro excavation, GPS site mapping and fabrication.

Bristol Construction Services 111 W. 16th Ave., Third Floor Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-563-0013

Travis Woods, CEO/Pres.

2003 2003

12 2

bristol-companies.com eavy and civil construction, site restoration/development, highway, street and bridge H construction.

Bristol Design Build Services 111 W. 16th Ave., Third Floor Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-563-0013

Mark Morgan, GM

2004 2004

8 2

bristol-companies.com e provide professional design build management and vertical construction services. We W offer clients a unique approach to efficiently and effectively manage complex projects from concept to completion. A full suite of capabilities enables us to successfully construct a wide array of building types.

CDF General Contractors 4235 Morphy Ct. Anchorage, AK 99508 Phone: 907-227-1102

Gary Murphy, Pres.

1983 1983

3 3

cdfincak.com | cdfincak@gmail.com T enant improvements, commercial, residential, renovation, and repair of damaged buildings, new construction, commercial, elevator installation, and general contracting.

Focused on green building practices. Another service we offer is construction consulting.

ChemTrack Alaska 11711 S. Gambell St. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-349-2511

Carrie Jokiel, Pres.

1973 1973

Colaska 4000 Old Seward Hwy., Suite 101 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-273-1000

Jon Fuglestad, Pres.

1999 1999

815 815

info@colaska.com olaska is part of the Colas Group, a worldwide leader in transportation infrastructure C construction and maintenance. Colaska’s operating companies cover the entire state of Alaska and include QAP, Secon, Southeast Roadbuilders, Exclusive Paving, AGGPRO, University RediMix, and Emulsion Products Co.

CONAM Construction 301 W. Northern Lights Blvd., Suite 300 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-278-6600

Dale Kissee, Pres.

1984 1984

300 300

conamco.com eneral construction contractor specializing in design and construction of oil and gas G facilities and pipelines, mining facilities, water and sewer facilities, and other remote infrastructure projects.

Cornerstone General Contractors 4040 B St., Suite 200 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-561-1993

Joe Jolley, Pres.

1993 1993

25 25

eneral contracting utilizing collaborative project delivery methods for new commercial G construction and the precision renovation of existing facilities for Alaska leading academic, civic, industrial, medical, nonprofit, oil and gas, and private development organizations.

chemtrack.net 15-20 15-20 Please check out our Statement of Qualifications at chemtrack.net/about_us.htm.

Safe and responsible construction services in Alaska for over 40 years • Road construction • Site reclamation • Airport construction • Underground utilities • Site development • Erosion protection • Riverbank restoration

2975 Van Horn Road, Fairbanks (907) 452-5617 • (800) 440-8924

www.grtnw.com 54 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Cruz Companies Alaska 7000 E. Palmer Wasilla Hwy. Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-746-3144

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Dave Cruz, Pres.

1981 1981

289 200

E xperts in resource development and heavy civil construction.

Jed Shandy, Pres.

1976 1976

50 50

davisconstructors.com | admin@davisconstructors.com davis-constructors-&-engineers-inc.

In Davis Constructors’ forty-year Alaska history, we have completed more than 300 projects totaling almost $2.25 billion throughout Alaska. We are one of the very few contractors who have true statewide experience, and this gives us a unique knowledge of construction in Alaska.

Delta Constructors 3000 C St., Suite 202 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-771-5800

Ed Gohr, CEO

2007 2007

600 225

deltaconstructors.net elta Constructors specializes in construction management (estimating, planning, D scheduling, and project execution) and direct hire construction for structural, piping, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation disciplines in support of up- and mid-stream oil and gas development.

Denali General Contractors PO Box 111490 Anchoragae, AK 99511 Phone: 907-561-1840

Chris Hamre, Pres.

1983 1983

20 20

denaligc.com | cindi@denaligc.com General contractor.

Dirtworks 3255 S. Old Glenn Hwy. Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-745-3671

Scott Johnson, Pres.

1989 1989

18 18

E xcavation contractor.

Door Systems of Alaska 18727 Old Glenn Hwy. Chugiak, AK 99567 Phone: 907-688-3367

Beth Bergh, Owner

2000 2000

11 11

doorsystemsak.com ommercial/industrial/architectural doors. Modernfold Flat wall partitions and Accordion C Partitions, Skyfold vertical partitions. Rolling doors, grilles, shutters. Fire-rated rolling doors. McGuire dock equipment. EPD/Renlita Hangar doors and blast-resistant doors.

Doyon Associated 615 Bidwell Ave., Suite 100 Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-374-9130

Warren Christian, Pres.

2006 2006

200 200

oyon Associated (DAL) specializes in arctic pipeline construction and associated D infrastructure. DAL has an established presence in Alaska with offices in Fairbanks and Anchorage, and shop/yard facilities in Fairbanks and Deadhorse.

Dan Graham, Pres.

2011 2011

28 6

beringstraits.com | dgraham@beringstraits.com E agle Eye provides slate of construction, electrical, and environmental services to meet the needs of government and private-sector customers. We leverage this experience to our customers’ advantage. Eagle Eye has a reputation for sustained customer satisfaction and offers an impressive performance.

Davis Constructors & Engineers 6591 A St., Suite 300 Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-562-2336

Eagle Eye Electric 3301 C St., Suite 400 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-334-8300

We Work Where You Work Premium Products, Signature Service, Exceptional Value

www.shoresidepetroleum.com ANCHORAGE | WASILLA | CORDOVA | SEWARD | WHITTIER

shoresidepetroleum.com

www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 55

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Fluor Alaska 4300 B St., Suite 210 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-865-2000

Wyche Ford, AK GM/Sr. Project Dir.

fluor.com Engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, maintenance and project man1912 56,706 agement. 100 years of experience including 50 years in Alaska. Our integrated solutions 1954 3 approach spans the entire project life cycle helping reduce costs and schedules, improve certainty of delivery and safe work performance.

Jay-Brant General Contractors 460 Grubstake Ave. Homer, AK 99603 Phone: 907-235-8400

Daniel Cope, GM

1983 1983

20 20

Public works, military and commercial construction.

K & W Interiors 9300 Old Seward Hwy. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-344-3080

Dale Kaercher, Pres.

1985 1985

20 20

K &W Interiors is a family owned business, providing Alaskans with fine quality interior finishes for more than 30 years. K&W was selected as one of the top 500 Remodelers in the nation by Qualified Remodeler magazine. From design to installation your satisfaction is our guarantee.

K&H Civil Constructors PO Box 877037 Wasilla, AK 99687 Phone: 907-373-4133

Matthew Ketchum, Owner/Mng. Member

2016 2016

15 15

khcivil.com | matt@khcivil.com P ublic works civil general contractor (MatSu Borough) and construction aggregate supplier within the city limits of Wasilla (commercial and retail sales).

K-C Corp.

2964 Commercial Dr. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-258-2425

Byron Kohfield, Pres.

1986 1986

22 22

bkohfield@kccorporation.com eneral contracting commercial/industrial. Specializing in light gage metal framing, G sheetrock, taping, painting, and high tech specialty coatings.

Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. 2000 W. International Airport Rd., #C6 Anchorage, AK 99502 Phone: 907-222-9350

Pat Harrison, Exec. Area Mgr.

1884 20,000 Heavy civil construction including transportation, marine, dams, and resource develop1947 50-100 ment.

Knik Construction 6400 S. Airpark Pl. Anchorage, AK 99502-1809 Phone: 907-245-1865

Dan Hall, Pres.

1974 1974

192 167

lynden.com/knik | knikinformation@lynden.com | LyndenInc lynden-incorporated Knik Construction specializes in complex, logistically challenging projects in hard-toreach places. We’ve been building highways, roads, bridges, airstrips, breakwaters, and more for more than forty years.

Loken Construction 5400 Eielson Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-868-8880

Tyler Loken

2003 2003

25 25

lokenconstructionak.com | tyler@lokenconstructionak.com Framing, steel, solar, and siding contractor.

Alaska Business is proud to introduce you to our new Premium Digital Edition FREE through 2019

digital.akbizmag.com

56 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Brian Miller, VP

1975 1976

400 35

long.com | alaskadispatch@long.com | LONGBldgTech | longbldgtech esigns, installs, and services HVAC systems/controls and energy and facility manageD ment systems, including fire, security, CCTV, and card access systems. Energy audits, metering, and monitoring building analytics; recommissioning and energy efficiency programs.

Jed Shandy, Pres.

2004 2004

50 50

massexcavation.com | admin@massexcavation.com ass Excavation was born out of a need for a responsive civil contractor capable of M meeting the diverse range of services from large project development to more intricate building site improvement details. Mass X provides residential, commercial and industrial site development.

New Horizons Telecom 901 Cope Industrial Way Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-761-6000

Leighton Lee, CEO

1978 1978

80 80

nhtiusa.com T elecommunications design and construction. In-house engineering, installation and project management services for urban and remote communications facilities, OSP and ISP cabling, as well as electrical and communications equipment installation and integration.

North Country Builders of Alaska 3435 N. Daisy Petal Cir. Wasilla, AK 99654 Phone: 907-373-7060

Thomas Smith, Pres.

1998 1998

4 4

northcountrybuilders.com | tsmith@northcountrybuilders.com ommercial and residential general contractor for new, remodel, and all phases of C construction.

Northern Dame Construction 1600 W. Edlund Rd. Wasilla, AK 99654 Phone: 907-376-9607

Stacey Coy, Pres.

1992 1992

50 50

northerndame.com | stacey@northerndame.com Traffic maintenance, flagging, training, and traffic control plans.

Olhausen Construction and Management 8060 Fairwood Cir. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-830-1774

2016 2016

5 5

olhausenconstruction@gmail.com General contracting and subcontracts, construction management, carpentry, and labor.

One of a Kind Design 1601 Abbott Rd., Suite 100 Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-522-7350

Toby Ventura, Designer

2012 2012

2 2

oneofakinddesignak.com | toby@oneofakinddesignak.com oneofakinddesignalaska We specialize in creating fabulous, functional kitchens and baths. From timeless traditional designs to sleek contemporary spaces, every innovative interior we construct is customized to ďŹ t your space, lifestyle, and budget.

Orion Marine Group 740 Bonanza Ave. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-561-9811

DS Hogan, Dir. Ops

1994 2012

LONG Building Technologies 5660 B St. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-561-3044 Mass Excavation PO Box 241093 Anchorage, AK 99524 Phone: 907-771-9272

www.akbizmag.com

orionmarinegroup.com | dhogan@orionmarinegroup.com 2,397 arine infrastructure and heavy civil and hydro dam construction, dredging, quarry M 110 operations, and mining. Pile driving, breakwater construction.

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 57

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Wil Clark, CEO

2008 2009

150 30

pacificpile.com | info@pacificpile.com P acific Pile & Marine is a heavy civil marine contractor. Our portfolio includes waterfront structures such as marinas and breakwaters; dredging and capping; sheet pile shoring; cofferdams; rock sockets and anchors; drilling; marine demolition; driven and drilled pile; and a host of other services.

Paragon Interior Construction 11524 Tulin Park Lp. Anchorage, AK 99516 Phone: 907-440-1424

Ken Prestegard, Partner

2005 2005

20 10

akdirtt.com | ken@akdirtt.com P aragon Interior Construction is distinguished as the leader in prefab manufactured interior construction. Paragon is the Alaska and Washington Partner for DIRTT “Doing It Right This Time,” the leading manufacturer of prefab interior construction in North America.

Price Gregory International 301 W. Northern Lights Blvd., Suite 300 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-278-4400

Robert Stinson, Sr. VP

1974 1974

Pruhs Construction 2193 Viking Dr. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-279-1020

Dana Pruhs, CEO

1958 1958

125 125

Heavy civil contractor, roads, airports, site work, underground utilities, industrial.

Brion Hines, Pres.

1962 1962

108 108

rainproofroofing.com | info@rainproofroofing.com S pecializing in residential and commercial roofing and waterproofing. Re-roofs, new construction, shingles, shakes, metal, built-up roofing as well as single-ply. We have a year-round dedicated repair and maintenance division, as well as an onsite sheet metal shop. We provide service to the entire state.

Pacific Pile & Marine 700 S. Riverside Dr. Seattle, WA 98108 Phone: 206-331-3873

Rain Proof Roofing 2201 E. 84th Ct. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-344-5545

pricegregory.com 3,000 P ipeline, power, heavy industrial construction, EPC, and consulting services. Infrastructure 300 construction services provider.

redpathmining.com | TheRedpathGroup | theredpathgroup | js-redpath-limited Underground mining contractor. Mine development, construction, and production 6,200 mining. Hydroelectric tunneling and penstocks, tunnel repair and rehabilitation. Alaska 145 Projects: Pogo Mine, Kensington Mine, Allison Lake—Copper Valley, Chugach LakeChugach Electric, Sitka Blue Lake, AEL&P Lake Dorothy.

Redpath Mining—JS Redpath Corporation 16345 Lena Loop Rd. George Flumerfelt, Pres./CEO Juneau, AK 99801 Phone: 907-789-3752

1962 1991

Roger Hickel Contracting 11001 Calaska Cir. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-279-1400

Mike Shaw, Pres.

1995 1995

78 58

rogerhickelcontracting.com | contact@rhcak.com General contractor; commercial construction vertical and civil work.

Spinell Homes 1900 W. Northern Lights Blvd., Suite 200 Anchorage, AK 99517 Phone: 907-344-5678

Charles Spinelli, Pres.

1987 1987

28 28

spinellhomes.com | spinell@spinellhomes.com | SpinellHomesAK General contractor-residential and light commercial construction.

LOCAL BROKERAGE STATEWIDE CONNECTIONS 907-244-2112 bsialaska.com COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SALES & LEASING BUSINESS CONSULTING SALES & ACQUISITIONS DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT SITE SELECTION TO OCCUPANCY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CONTACT BSI TODAY FOR A COMPLIMENTARY BROKERS OPINION 3841 W. Dimond Blvd., Anchorage, Alaska 99502 58 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

S C I T S I G O L & G A N K I S K A C L U A R TR FO S N O I S O LU T

carlile.biz | 800.478.1853 | customerservice@carlile.biz

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

STG Incorporated 11710 S. Gambell St. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-644-4664

Brennan Walsh, Pres.

1991 1991

90 90

stgincorporated.com | dmyers@stgincorporated.com | STGAlaska R ural infrastructure construction, innovative arctic construction solutions, renewable energy systems, tower construction, power generation and distribution facilities, pile foundations, bulk-fuel systems, waterfront projects, and telecommunications.

TDX Government Services Group 3601 C St., Suite 1000 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-278-2312

Benjamin English, Pres.

1973 1973

100 30

tdxservices.com | benglish@tdxservices.com Construction, remote power O&M, controls and switchgear manufacturing/install.

The Peterson Group 3820 Lake Otis Pkwy.

Anchorage, AK 99508 Phone: 907-562-1170

Trevor Edmondson, VP

1983 1983

20 20

TPGAK.com e develop high-quality condominium neighborhoods with single-family homes, townW homes, and condominium suites. Communities by The Petersen Group are well planned with homes of thoughtful design, excellent quality, and long lasting value.

Turnagain Marine Construction 8241 Dimond Hook Dr., Unit A Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-261-8960

Jason Davis, Pres.

2014 2014

47 47

turnagain.build | business@turnagain.build | Turnagain.build turnagain-marine-construction Specializing in complex heavy marine construction projects, including large diameter socketing, rock anchors, offshore mooring, and heavy lift requirements. Over the last decade, their team has delivered more than fifty design-build and hard bid projects from Ketchikan to Nome.

Tutka 2485 E. Zak Cir., Suite A Wasilla, AK 99654 Phone: 907-357-2238

Amie Sommer, Member

1999 1999

30 30

tutkallc.com | amie@tutkallc.com eneral contractor (roads, bridges, culverts, site work), environmental cleanup and G consulting. WBE/DBE, WOSB/EDWOSB, HUBZone.

UIC Construction 6700 Arctic Spur Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-762-0123

Justin Jones, GM

1978 1978

150 150

uicalaska.com ommercial building and civil general contractor focusing primarily on Arctic construcC tion through hard-dollar bid, design/build turn-key, and construction management.

Services include pre-construction and planning, cost estimating, remote logistics, scheduling, and best-value engineering.

UNIT COMPANY 620 E. Whitney Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-349-6666

Michael Fall, Pres.

1977 1977

Bill Watterson, Pres.

1981 1981

Watterson Construction Co. 6500 Interstate Cir. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-7441

60 | March 2019

unitcompany.com | info@unitcompany.com 25-75 ommercial General Contractor involved in all types of building construction including C 25-75 design-build, construction management, and design-assist.

89 89

wattersonconstruction.com | info@wccak.com atterson Construction Co. is a commercial and light industrial general contractor. Based W in Anchorage and working exclusively in Alaska, Watterson specializes in pre-construction services and alternate delivery methods including design/build, CM@Risk, and best value projects.

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

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BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

Construction—Heavy Equipment Dealers

COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE

YEAR FOUNDED / ESTABLISHED IN ALASKA

WORLDWIDE / ALASKA EMPLOYEES

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Airport Equipment Rentals 1285 Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99707 Phone: 907-456-2000

Jerry Sadler, Owner/Pres.

1986 1986

100 100

airportequipmentrentals.com | aerinc4@alaska.net L argest industrial/construction heavy equipment rental company in Alaska. Providing rentals, sales and service for the construction and oil and gas industries.

Alaska Crane 11900 S. Gambell St. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-522-9004

Brennan Walsh, Pres.

2001 2001

22 22

alaskacrane.net | info@alaskacrane.net | AlaskaCrane perated crane services, lift planning, heavy lift and long-reach specialists. Arctic-rated O cranes to -40 degrees.

Construction Machinery Industrial 5400 Homer Dr. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-563-3822

Ken Gerondale, Pres./CEO

1985 1985

105 105

cmiak.com Construction and mining equipment sales, rentals, service, and parts.

Craig Taylor Equipment 733 E. Whitney Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-276-5050

Chris Devine, Pres./CEO

1954 1954

50 50

craigtaylorequipment.com | info@craigtaylorequipment.com | craigtaylorequipment F actory authorized dealer for Doosan large excavators, loaders, and articulated trucks; Bobcat mini-loaders and excavators; Dynapac compaction rollers; Fecom land clearing attachments and carriers. Providing sales, rentals, parts, and service. Alaskan owned and operated for more than sixty years.

Equipment Direct PO Box 425 Willow, AK 99688 Phone: 907-696-7375

L. Butera, Pres.

1985 1985

2 2

eqdirect.com | fb.me/eqdirect onstruction equipment sales, parts, rentals. Morooka all-terrain crawler carrier dumper C specialty parts and sales, 14K GWV tilt deck trailers, Japan origin machine parts. Established network of Japan construction and mining machines sales and parts.

Equipment Source 1919 Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-458-9049

Nick Ferree, PE, GM

2000 2000

38 30

equipmentsourceinc.com | FAI-Sales@EquipSrc.com E SI designs, develops, and builds quality, innovative worksite products for the oil, mining, construction, and agriculture industries. All of our products are built Arctic tough, built to last, and tested in challenging environments. We also specialize in Kubota tractors. SalesService-Parts-Rentals.

Haltness Equipment 205 Meals Ave. Valdez, AK 99686 Phone: 907-835-5418

Erik Haltness, Mgr.

1987 1987

10 10

haltness.com | sales@haltness.com Equipment rentals and sales.

Loken Crane, Rigging, & Transport 5400 Eielson St. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-868-8880

Tyler Loken

2014 2014

4 4

lokencrane.com | tloken@lokencrane.com Full service mobile crane, rigging, and transport operations.

N C Machinery 6450 Arctic Blvd.

Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-786-7500

John Harnish, CEO

1926 1926

North Star Equipment Services 790 Ocean Dock Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-272-7537

Jeff Bentz, Pres.

1950 1950

80 80

northstarak.com | sales@northstarak.com | nsts.nses e provide crane and equipment solutions. We have state of the art ABI Mobilram W machines, for large diameter drilling, with vibratory and hammer attachments, built for driving pile. We are DOT approved for bridge foundations.

North Star Terminal & Stevedore Co. 790 Ocean Dock Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-263-0120

Jeff Bentz, Pres.

1950 1950

19 19

northstarak.com | sales@northstarak.com | nsts.nses S tevedore, marine logistics, specializing in providing crane and equipment solutions. We have state of the art ABI Mobilram machines, for large diameter drilling, with vibratory and hammer attachments, built for driving pile. We are DOT approved for bridge foundation.

TrailerCraft | Freightliner of Alaska 222 W. 92nd Ave. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-563-3238

Lee McKenzie, Pres./Owner

1969 1969

50 50

trailercraft.com | daphnel@trailercraft.com P arts, sales, and service for trucks, tractors, trailers, sprinters, transport equipment, snow plows and sanders.

Washington Crane & Hoist 651 E. 100th Ave., Unit B Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-336-6661

Mike Currie, Pres.

1975 2008

40 8

washingtoncrane.com | sdick@washingtoncrane.com rane builders, crane design, new crane sales, new hoist sales, lifting equipment design C and sales. Material handling solutions for industry, hoists, job cranes, work stations, chain falls, lever hoists, crane upgrades, crane maintenance, crane inspection, crane repair, hoist repair and crane parts.

West-Mark Service Center-Fairbanks 3050 Van Horn Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709 Phone: 907-451-8265

Scott Vincent, CEO

1967 2009

175 9

Liquid transportation tank trailer repair.

Yukon Equipment 2020 E. Third Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-277-1541

Charles Klever, Pres.

1945 1945

35 35

yukoneq.com | Info@yukoneq.com S ales, service, parts, rental and lease equipment, including Case, Trail King, Elgin, Vactor, Oshkosh, Etnyre, Monroe, Trackless, and Snow Dragon. Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Wasilla locations. A subsidiary of Calista Corp.

62 | March 2019

ncmachinery.com at machine sales, parts, service, and rental. Cat engines for marine, power generation, 1,012 C 208 truck, petroleum, and industrial applications. Sales and rental of Cat and other preferred brands of rental equipment and construction supplies.

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | RECOVERY

How to Fix an Earthquake in Four Days

Cooperation is crucial for disaster recovery

By Brad Joyal

A

t 8:30 a.m. on November 30, Alaskans were shaken by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit about eight miles north of Anchorage.

The quake shook buildings, rattled road systems, and even prompted a tsunami warning that was later canceled. While Anchorage was most severely impacted by the damage, the earthquake was felt throughout the Interior up to Fairbanks.

Just minutes after the earth stopped rumbling, photos and videos started circulating on social media depicting the damage in and around Anchorage.

There were videos of children hiding un-

64 | March 2019

der their desks inside schools and photos illustrating massive cracks that formed in roadways around the state’s largest city. What shocked the world, though, was how quickly life seemed to return to normal. Days after the earthquake, more photos started making the rounds, now showing side-by-side comparisons between impacted infrastructure and roads and repairs already made.

How did things improve so quickly?

No one person or one agency was responsible for the recovery efforts. It required widespread cooperation and hours upon hours of planning, focus,

and labor. Although the effects are still seen and felt around Anchorage and the surrounding areas months later, the immediate response by state officials and agencies, as well as private contractors, was nothing short of miraculous.

Preparation Natural disasters can’t be predicted. In fact, it is in part the spontaneity of earthquakes that can make them so deadly.

Nobody knows when they are coming, where they will be, or how much damage they will inflict. But that doesn’t mean state officials haven’t been preparing for

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | RECOVERY

The PRODUCT you want...

The PRODUCTION you need...

Road work takes place on Vine Road on December 5 to repair earthquake damage.

DOT&PF

a major emergency incident to occur. In 2014, Alaska celebrated the 50th anniversary of a massive earthquake that struck about 15 miles below Prince William Sound between Anchorage and Valdez.

That quake—widely known as the Good Friday Earthquake—had a 9.2 magnitude, which still ranks as the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded. The anniversary of the 1964 earthquake got state officials thinking about what they would do should another natural disaster strike the 49th state.

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says Shannon McCarthy, administrations operations manager for the Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF), alluding to the recent earthquake in Anchorage. “Four years ago, there was a big anniversary for the 1964 earthquake, so the state emergency management had really done a push to get people prepared and for the department to be prepared. In March 2018, we had an oversized truck hit one of our bridges that crosses the Glenn Highway, and we had to shut down the highway for, I think, four and a half days. That reminded us to take a look at some of our planning.”

After the truck crash, DOT&PF began conducting exercises in which they discussed different modes of recovery should another large scale emergency event take place.

“We’d talk about, ‘If this piece of infrastructure was compromised, how would we get traffic back and forth?’” McCarthy explains.

As a part of the preparation process, DOT&PF made sure all of its staff renewed their incident command training. Incident command training was initiated years ago when firefighters developed the program because they’d have emergency situations that required various resources chipping in to help with recovery. What they discovered was that firefighters were communicating differently than police officers, and both of them were speaking a different language than the military. It became clear that there needed to be a universal language for agencies to use during natural disasters and other emergencies that require responses from multiple entities.

The anniversary of the 1964 earthquake and the 2018 truck accident were reminders for DOT&PF to make sure everybody was up to date with their incident command training. So, when the earthquake hit at the end of November, agencies around the state were equipped to issue a fast response.

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For many people, earthquakes and natural disasters trigger the same response.

People rush to make sure their families are safe and their homes are still standing.

Immediately after the quake, the majority of DOT&PF workers in Anchorage left to check in on their families and homes before quickly returning to the office to begin working. McCarthy, meanwhile, was walking into Anchorage’s maintenance

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BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | RECOVERY

“We had actually been planning for an incident like this for quite some time… In March 2018, we had an oversized truck hit one of our bridges that crosses the Glenn Highway, and we had to shut down the highway for four-and-a-half days. That reminded us to take a look at some of our planning.”

—Shannon McCarthy, Administrations Operations Manager, Alaska DOT&PF

station. Because the Anchorage DOT&PF office was evacuated due to overwhelming dust caused by ceiling tiles falling in, she stayed in place at the maintenance station for several hours. Ironically, it was an ideal place for her to be during the earthquake, as her placement in the city allowed her to get started on what needed to be done to start restoring order around the area.

“When I was over there, it was all hands on deck,” McCarthy says of the initial reaction. “They called every operator and said, ‘As soon as you know your family and house are safe, we need you in here.’”

DOT&PF has operators who are trained to inspect roads and others who are trained to inspect bridges. McCarthy says that within minutes of the earthquake hitting, those operators were out on the road taking inventory and pictures. Back at the DOT&PF office, however, workers weren’t able to return inside the building until they were www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 67

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | RECOVERY

given the green light that the dust was no longer a cause for concern. DOT&PF employees were allowed back into the office just after 11 a.m. on the day of the earthquake.

“Once the dust had literally settled, our private sector contractors immediately started calling in and saying, ‘What can we do to help?’” says McCarthy. “We had already anticipated those questions and started asking questions: ‘What equipment do you have available right now? How many people do you have that you can call in, and how quickly can you get to point X?’ We knew where the cracks were in the road system and what contractors were available to go. We literally had a contractor on scene by 11 a.m. that morning, on the Minnesota onramp, the one that was made famous by some of the photos that came out.”

Damage In addition to the Minnesota Drive exit ramp, there was even more damage on the new Seward Highway. There were also two sinkholes that developed on the Glenn Highway near the Mirror Lake area, a bridge abutment that buckled on the Glenn, and rocks falling near the

Potter Weigh Station, which turned into a dicey situation as aftershocks continued throughout the day. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport also shut down the ramp that serves as the primary entrance and exit for people coming to and going from the airport.

But the earthquake’s presence wasn’t solely felt on the road systems; it also struck infrastructure. Among the people who were called to inspect buildings was Forest Bishop, an engineer in training for Schneider and Associates Structural Engineers in Anchorage.

“What I’ve noticed, in general terms, is a lot of the older structures experienced a lot more significant damage than the newer structures,” Bishop says. “That’s primarily because the newer structures are built to significantly higher seismic code requirements. The biggest issue that people are facing is the differential settlements of the foundations that exhibit pronounced damage in the structural framework of the buildings throughout. When the foundation sinks differentially, it stresses and strains all the members throughout the building in a way that they aren’t designed to handle, especially in the older structures.

A bird’s eye view of Vine Road following the November 30 earthquake.

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Therefore, it either damages those or puts them in a position where they’re not safe anymore. That’s the main exhibitor I’ve seen—the poor soils and foundation designs causing extrapolated damage up through the structures.”

Bishop estimates that he has personally completed more than fifty inspections and has racked up more than 300 hours of overtime since the earthquake. Fortunately, he says, the majority of the inspections he has participated in have required very little repairs, though there have been instances that led to him recommending a couple small repairs be made.

Prioritizing One of the first major decisions DOT&PF was forced to make was whether to apply asphalt or gravel to the roads that were in desperate need of repairs.

DOT&PF was hesitant to choose gravel because that would have required its operators to constantly maintain and re-grade them. DOT&PF’s private sector partners, including Agg Pro, immediately started their asphalt plants, which proved to be a game-changer in the recovery process. www.akbizmag.com

“It’s hard to do asphalt in the wintertime,” McCarthy says. “Normally, an asphalt plant takes, on the short side, anywhere from seven days to ten or fourteen days to get it up and running. You have to melt the asphalt oil, and that takes a while, and then you have to make sure the actual material is clear of ice and snow.”

Within days, DOT&PF had asphalt at its disposal. But there were still various cracks and gashes throughout the roadways that required a team effort between DOT&PF and its private sector operators to fill. DOT&PF had between thirty and fifty workers working around the clock for a period of four or five days. Other operators, such as Mass Excavation, sprang into action and helped transport gravel to the areas that needed it the most.

“When we were hauling gravel from our pit facility, the maximum trucks that we could put in there were seventeen because that’s as fast as we could load them,” says Mark Erickson, general manager of Mass Excavation, which hauled an average of 400 to 600 yards of gravel per hour during the peak response time. “That production of 400 to 600 yards an hour is amazing production by most standards.

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 69

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | RECOVERY The areas impacted by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Anchorage on November 30.

DOT&PF

70 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION | RECOVERY

An aerial view of Vine Road on December 8, showing work completed to repair damage from the November 30 quake.

DOT&PF

We were building the road all the way back up, basically filling in hole after hole.”

Mass Excavation also played a critical role in hauling the saturated soils that gave way, particularly around Mirror Lake and on Dowling Road. Although he wasn’t making repairs during the 1964 earthquake, Erickson says the similarities between that legendary disaster and the one Anchorage experienced in November were striking.

“It’s the same thing that devastated Anchorage back in 1964,” he says. “You have to have the appropriate soils and water situations, but liquefaction turns the underlying soils into quicksand and won’t support anything. Then the world falls into it. It’s not very often that you get to see the actual liquefaction and the damage it does. It’s really pretty impressive when you get to see the force of nature and how the world can just fall away.”

McCarthy says DOT&PF was taken aback to see how quickly the roads returned to being functional, something she notes wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the department’s preexisting relationships with partners who www.akbizmag.com

were eager to jump in and help out at a moment’s notice.

“We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly we all worked together to get the road system together,” she says. “I don’t think we could’ve done that if we didn’t have good, cooperative relationships with the private sector going into this.”

Planning Although Anchorage and the surrounding region are much improved from the earthquake’s damage, there’s still more work to be done. A complete reevaluation will have to be conducted this summer, and Anchorage-based DOT&PF workers are encouraging locals to be prepared for even more construction down the line.

“For the general public, things probably started feeling normal on a lot of the roads in that first week after the earthquake,” says Sean Baski, an Anchorage-based design project manager for DOT&PF. “Those roads are paved now, so it might feel like everything is done. It’s not. When you have frozen ground, it holds a lot of things together. You’ve got asphalt and other things that are nice and solid structures, Alaska Business

but when something destabilizes underneath it, that asphalt and that frozen layer help bridge over failures. Come this spring, when everything starts thawing out and that big frozen layer isn’t bridging over things, it’s not going to be pretty. Things could start falling apart again. We’re preparing ourselves right now so we can respond to it, but there’s a huge unknown factor for us because we’re not sure what we’re going to have to respond to.”

There is more work to be done, but those who helped with the earthquake relief are also proud as they reflect on all they’ve already accomplished.

“We definitely made a mark on the rest of the nation,” Erickson says. “That’s what I think is really great. It was an overall collective group that came together to demonstrate to the rest of the country that in Alaska, when these things happen, we basically just make sure everything is safe at home and then we get back to work putting the world back together. It took a lot of contractors and engineers and the DOT&PF and the MOA to show what we can do. It was a pretty cool collaboration, and that’s the Alaskan way.”

March 2019 | 71

A L A S K A N AT I V E

The quality of Heather’s Choice products, such as the blueberry/almond Packaroons, was fundamental to The Eyak Corporation’s interest in investing.

Heather’s Choice

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n Spring 2018, The Eyak Corporation turned its eyes to Alaska for investment opportunities, landing on the popular local company Heather’s Choice.

Though about 95 percent of the village corporation’s revenue—and investment— come from out of state, the in-state equity purchase was slated as being mutually beneficial both to the corporation and the local business.

“We’re looking for companies that have a strong, local presence—looking for companies that have strong owners that are committed. And, the other thing that we really like in a company is that it can capitalize on Alaska’s essence,” explains Rod Worl, CEO of The Eyak Corporation.

“And Heather’s Choice was a very good example of a company that could capitalize on Alaska’s essence but also had the potential for a large upsize in a large market. So that played an important factor in choosing to invest in it.”

72 | March 2019

Local Priorities Alaska Native corporations, from the twelve regional giants to the approximately 225 village corporations (which run the gamut in terms of size), play an important role in the Last Frontier’s economy.

“Native corporations are the largest private landowners in Alaska, with title to 44 million acres of selected land throughout the state,” explains the Resource Development Council’s website. “Development of the resources beneath their lands offers Native corporations an opportunity to generate jobs and other economic benefits for their Native shareholders and fulfill the implicit promise Congress made to Alaska Natives in exchange for extinguishment of their aboriginal claims.”

Because the extent of their land ownership is well known and many Alaska Native corporations did pursue natural resource projects in their early years, many people only associate Native corporations with resource extraction projects and investments; however, most have far

more diversified investment portfolios, with many teaming up with local businesses to help them fulfill their mission.

The Eyak Corporation’s mission is straightforward: “To return financial benefits to present and future shareholders through the development of economic opportunities and growth of our assets while protecting the ownership of our ANCSA lands and Native cultural heritage.”

This has mostly been done through government contract work, much of it outside of Alaska, though Worl is clearly excited to be investing closer to home with Heather’s Choice.

“It’s always been the intent of our board and management to become more involved locally with our community,” Worl says.

“We feel that by becoming more locally involved we can have more say in our own community because, when you start doing things at home, people start to notice who you are as a corporation.

“We’re a fairly large company for a

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village corporation, but we don’t get as much recognition in Alaska because most of our businesses are Outside.”

The Eyak Corporation, which has approximately 550 shareholders, garnered about $44 million in revenue in 2017 and expects close to $40 million in revenue for 2018.

“By making good investments at home, you enhance your reputation, and it definitely opens up doors, which really aligns with our mission and vision,” Worl says.

“And, it has the potential to create employment for our shareholders—that was another factor. When we introduced Heather’s Choice to shareholders, they were very positive about it to us. They just liked the idea behind dehydrated foods, promoting dehydrated foods—it’s a very Alaskan thing.”

Heather’s Choice Heather’s Choice is a dehydrated backpacking food company based out of Anchorage that focuses on creating healthy, high-quality backcountry meals from Alaska-sourced foods.

“I started the business because I saw there was an opportunity to get high-quality food into people’s packs,” says Heather

Kelly, founder of Heather’s Choice. “At the time I started, the majority of backpacking food companies out there were selling freeze-dried food. I knew I wanted to sell dehydrated food that packed down smaller and had less preservatives, better ingredients. And we could control and produce very high-quality products.

For example, we have sockeye chowder made with wild Alaskan sockeye.”

Worl was introduced to Heather’s Choice when Kelly went searching for investment via Anchorage Equity Partners. This wasn’t the first time Heather’s Choice was on the trails to secure investment to scale up the business. A successful Kickstarter campaign raised enough funds to design and print new custom packaging and purchase a commercial dehydrator in 2015.

In April of 2016, Heather’s Choice was invited to join the Launch Alaska Accelerator Program, a group of local investors dedicated to helping Alaska startups become scalable businesses with financial investments and mentorship, according to a news release.

“After completing the Launch Alaska program, Heather’s Choice was approached by the Alaska Accelerator Fund. Their investment allowed Heather’s

“We’re looking for companies that have a strong, local presence— looking for companies that have strong owners that are committed.

And, the other thing that we really like in a company is that it can capitalize on Alaska’s essence.”

—Rod Worl, CEO The Eyak Corporation

THE ARCTIC.

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March 2019 | 73

Heather’s Choice, through its products, marketing, and location, speaks to an Alaskan audience, making it a good fit for a partnership with The Eyak Corporation.

Heather’s Choice

Choice to hire several new staff members, open a retail location in Anchorage, and obtain office space and warehouse space for inventory and shipping. A recent grant from the Alaska Seed Fund is also helping Heather’s Choice expand their product line to include more backcountry snacks,” the release states.

“Anchorage Equity Partners aims to help young businesses and startups scale. They are the ones who connected us with Rod and Brennan [Cain] and The Eyak Corporation,” Kelly explains.

74 | March 2019

Local Diversity Worl makes it clear that The Eyak Corporation doesn’t see investment as a oneway street, where only the corporation benefits. “I think it’s best if both parties can come together to create synergy.

We thought that Eyak could help, obviously, by providing capital, which is needed by the company, but also by offering our management expertise and connections we have with Alaska, as well as our existing business,” Worl says.

“And, to top it off, our expertise and our

forte is really in government contracting.

We thought that we could leverage our experience and our contacts and customers in government contracting to bring those sorts of opportunities to Heather’s Choice,” he says, noting that one large government contract could change a company’s financial situation overnight.

There were many attractive elements to the investment for The Eyak Corporation beyond Heather’s Choice experiencing more than 500 percent growth in 2016.

Kelly’s strong management and commitment as a small business owner was a serious selling point for The Eyak Corporation, Worl says.

Another was the chance to add a little diversity to The Eyak Corporation’s portfolio, though the investment in Heather’s Choice represents less than 1 percent of its total assets.

“We don’t want to be totally dependent on government contracting,” Worl says.

“But if we’re going to diversify, we just feel that we’re going to find opportunities in Alaska. With our parent company based in Anchorage, it’s easier for us to look at these particular investments and look at them closely for potential upsides and also downsides.”

Kelly has already started putting The Eyak Corporation’s investment to good use.

“Their investment helped us to scale at an opportune time,” Kelly says. “Heather’s Choice has continued to grow. We’ve been able to use the funding to build out our production kitchen here in Anchorage, which is now fully operational and permitted.”

The funding also allowed Heather’s Choice to get in front of REI Senior Vice President Susan Viscon at the Outdoor Retailer Show (a business-to-business outdoor sports show in Colorado) this past summer.

Apparently impressed with what was presented, Viscon gave the green light

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to introduce Heather’s Choice at twentyfive REI stores in 2019.

Worl agrees with Viscon’s assessment of Heather’s Choice products.

“In order for this company to be a big success, you really have to start with a quality product,” Worl says. “We sampled the products here, and we thought it was exceptional, especially their Packaroons.

We knew that they had a good package.”

More Than Money For Kelly, teaming up with The Eyak Corporation was about more than just the money.

“A big part of it was the people. With Rod being a very well-respected CEO, as well as Brennan as legal counsel—it was very attractive,” Kelly says.

Brennan Cain is the vice president and general counsel for The Eyak Corporation, a position he has held since 2012.

“Additionally, they had areas of expertise, such as opportunities for government contracting down the road,” Kelly says.

“That would be a dream scenario for us...

Right now, we wouldn’t necessarily be able to keep up with a major government contract. So, that’s where there’s a lot of groundwork for us to do with increasing capacity, becoming more efficient, and still maintaining the quality. Servicing a major retailer like REI, and getting our products in all 150 stores, that will really show us what it would take to get some sort of government contract.”

Most likely, Kelly will have time to get Heather’s Choice situated before any government contracts come in—even with The Eyak Corporation’s experience and expertise.

“It could take a while,” Worl says. “The nature of government contracting is really a long-term play because even if a contractor or officer or client in the government wants to have your service, it could take anywhere from a year or two or three for it to come through. We’re hoping something will happen in 2020.”

It is a long-term play, but Kelly is confident that by partnering with The Eyak Corporation, she’ll have effective guides to navigate landing a government contract. Kelly points out that partnering with an Alaska Native corporation provides opportunities for a local business owner, such as herself, that wouldn’t be available through other investors.

“There’s a lot to be said for partnering with an Alaska Native corporation, and I www.akbizmag.com

don’t think we’ve cracked that open yet, to be honest,” Kelly says. “I don’t think we’ve leveraged them to the fullest extent. I think they have different resources or connections or opportunities that we haven’t fully tapped into. Once we’re able to scale our business a bit more and have more production capacity, they’re going to have a lot more opportunities for us to take advantage of.”

Kelly also notes that The Eyak Corporation’s investment in a local business has a trickle down effect that helps both businesses achieve their goals of making Alaska stronger.

“We currently employ eight people in Anchorage. So we create great jobs, and we’ll obviously create more jobs as we grow. Additionally, by having someone like The Eyak Corporation, they help us in our mission of strengthening the Alaska food system. By doing business in Alaska, we’re buying more local food. We’re buying salmon, we’re buying grass-fed beef, we’re buying grass-fed bison,” Kelly says. “We’re helping to create jobs even outside our business, and so I think really

by Alaska Native corporations investing in Alaska businesses, especially manufacturing, that it’s pretty darn powerful.”

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March 2019 | 75

E N V I R O N M E N TA L

Sunken Debt New legislation to address Alaska’s abandoned vessel problem

By Vanessa Orr

A

laskans depend on boats for numerous reasons, from commercial fishermen using them to make a living or commercial tugs and barges moving freight and fuel to subsistence users catching fish to feed their families and recreational boaters spending time on the state’s pristine waters. But what happens

76 | March 2019

when a vessel comes to the end of its useful life? How do boat owners dispose of unneeded or damaged vessels?

In many cases, they don’t. In Alaska, as in a number of other states, abandoned vessels are a huge issue. Steamboat Slough outside Bethel, for example, is home to many abandoned boats, from fish processing vessels to dismantled barges that are waiting for time—or state or federal agencies—to end them.

“When you talk about abandoned vessels, what has frequently happened is that at the end of its useful life, the owner wanted to get rid of it because it had become a liability,” explains Dan Magone, Alaska operations manager of Resolve Marine Group. “They find some-

one who will buy it for a song.” Unfortunately, these novices have no idea what they’re getting involved in. They buy it dirt cheap, thinking they got a great deal, and then find out they don’t have the resources to deal with it. Insurance requirements to make it seaworthy can cost a fortune.

“The boat ends up getting tied to a dock or along a river and gradually gets in worse shape. Sometimes it sinks,” he adds. “And more often than not, the person who now owns it has no insurance and no assets. And you’re talking hundreds or thousands of dollars, even millions to solve the problem. So there the boat sits.”

“There are cases where a vessel is moved from one harbor to another all

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After the 130-foot derelict landing craft Sound Developer sank in the marina in Cordova, Global was contracted by the US Coast Guard to raise the vessel and remove petroleum products and contaminated silt from its tanks.

Global Diving & Salvage

“[SB92] allows us to pilot a voluntary vessel turn-in program and to create a point person from the Department of Natural Resources who can help maintain this focus. Scrap and salvage Global’s team works to defuel the wreck of the Princess Kathleen which ran aground on Point Lena in 1952; crews removed more than 130,000 gallons of bunker oil and other petroleum products from the wreck.

Global Diving & Salvage

the way up the West Coast,” adds Bernie Rosenberger, diving operations manager for Alaska at Global Diving & Salvage. “As the owner can’t pay the fees, they keep moving it toward Alaska, with the boat getting sold for $50 on a bar napkin. It ends up here, and the person who owns it can’t pay to dock it. They’re driven out of the harbor, the boat is put on anchor, and sometimes it sinks.”

Unlike some other states, Alaska doesn’t have a title system for vessels, and though they are supposed to be registered, there’s no real way to track ownership. The state also doesn’t require hull, pollution, or liability insurance, and doesn’t require inspections for seaworthiness before a vessel can be sold. www.akbizmag.com

have a long way to go in Alaska, and the ability to haul boats out is a challenge. But we’re seeing programs like this work in Washington and California; those states are saving money by having boats turned in before they sink.”

—Rachel Lord, Executive Secretary AAHPA

Passing the Buck When the owner has no assets, an abandoned vessel becomes someone else’s problem—whether that’s the landowner on whose property it sits, the harbormaster, or the city or borough where the boat was left. Eventually, responsibility may trickle down to taxpayers.

“Coming up with the money to remove the boat is the big problem, and in many cases, it ends up being the government’s responsibility, especially if there’s oil onAlaska Business

board,” says Magone. “The Coast Guard has a pollution fund that provides a pod of money for incidences, including raising a wreck if the wreck poses a significant threat of environmental damage. If that isn’t an option, the state or federal government might come up with a funding scheme, but this is challenging to do.”

According to Rosenberger, tapping the pollution fund is a last resort. “Though there are several billion dollars in it, it’s typically not used because the March 2019 | 77

The 96-foot wooden tugboat Challenger was being used as a live-aboard when it sank in the Gastineau Channel, posing a navigational and environmental hazard.

Global removed fuel and other contaminants, raised the vessel, and then towed it ashore for proper disposal.

Global Diving & Salvage

Coast Guard prefers that the owner be responsible, and they give them every opportunity,” he explains. “But in the case where the owner isn’t responding rapidly enough or there’s a significant threat to the environment, they ‘federalize’ the case and that’s when we step in.”

Rosenberger adds that there are no real standard protocols for removing abandoned boats. “It depends on where the vessel is—whether it’s on federal, state, or city land—and on what legal methods are available to enforce its removal,” he says.

If a vessel sinks at a dock or catches fire, there is a more immediate response in order to protect the environment from lasting damage. Salvage companies are called in to capture any oil and to deal with public health and safety issues like ammonia or lead on board.

“There is seldom any hesitation on the part of the municipality, state, or Coast Guard when something like this happens,” Magone says. “The problem comes when it is no longer an emergency—when the boat is just derelict and nobody wants it.

It’s a pariah.”

Magone gives the example of two tugboats that got loose in Adak and ended up on a jetty. Because they carried 20,000 78 | March 2019

gallons of fuel and were a significant risk to the environment, the Coast Guard hired Resolve to pump off the fuel, paying for it from the pollution fund. “When there was no longer a significant risk of pollution, they had us put the boats back on the rocks where we found them,” says Magone. “Six months later, they had sunk to the bottom of the harbor.”

In addition to leaking oil and hydrocarbons in the water, abandoned boats can adversely affect the environment in many ways. “Boats have sewage tanks, lube oil, and batteries on board; one vessel we salvaged had twenty-nine car-sized batteries that had to be removed,” says Kerry Walsh, marine casualty project manager for Global Diving & Salvage. “There’s also fiberglass and paint and pieces of the boat that disintegrate onto the beach and in the water. But the damage doesn’t always happen immediately.”

The Princess Kathleen, a 369-foot transport vessel that ran aground outside Juneau more than sixty years ago, is a prime example. “When the Princess Kathleen sank, no one thought it was a big deal; in fact, it became a hot scuba spot,” says Rosenberger. “But as it deteriorated, it began leaking thick Bunker

C fuel; globs came to the surface after every storm.”

In 2010, Global Diving & Salvage was engaged to survey the wreck—with the caveat to disturb as little as possible because it was a historic site. After studying the Princess Kathleen, the company determined that there was a high risk of environmental danger.

“We ended up removing more than 130,000 gallons of thick, heavy oil from the vessel, along with 2,500 pounds of solid waste and 218,000 gallons of oily water,” says Walsh. “This would have been a huge environmental issue if the hull had been breached. Something like an earthquake could easily have broken it open.”

Salvage or Scuttle?

In most cases, if money is found to remove the boat, it is scuttled instead of scrapped though it must first be thoroughly cleaned and pass an EPA inspection before being towed out to deeper water.

“Cleaning a vessel includes removing all of the pollutants and removing or triple rinsing all of the piping,” says Magone.

“It’s a very involved process, but it’s still cheaper than cutting it up. By the time you strip the insulation; cut up the join-

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ery work, piping, plastic pipes, and more; and ship it to the scrap market in Seattle, it costs more than the metal is worth.”

It can also be expensive to tow the boat to deep enough water. “You can’t just sink it anywhere because it could be obstructive to fisheries,” says Magone.

“But if you drop it in a mile deep, it doesn’t affect anyone.”

Holding Owners Responsible In October 2018, SB92, the Derelict Vessel Act, was signed into law by then-Governor Bill Walker with the goal of overhauling Alaska’s ineffective laws on abandoned and derelict vessels and improving enforcement efforts to identify and hold boat owners responsible.

The bill was based on the work of the state’s ad-hoc Derelict Vessel Task Force, sponsored in part by the Alaska Clean Harbors program and Cook Inletkeeper.

Rachel Lord, executive secretary of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators, explains the impetus behind the act. “In 2012, two boats were kicked out of harbors in Kodiak and weren’t allowed to dock elsewhere, so they ended up in Jakolof Bay where they sunk,” she says. “While this was not a unique situation,

“There are cases where a vessel is moved from one harbor to another all the way up the West Coast. As the owner can’t pay the fees, they keep moving it toward Alaska, with the boat getting sold for $50 on a bar napkin. It ends up here, and the person who owns it can’t pay to dock it.”

—Bernie Rosenberger Operations Manager Alaska Global Diving & Salvage

its location caused commercial oyster farms to have to be shut down, and, politically, this was a very sensitive area because it was in Homer’s backyard.”

While small changes were made to Alaska’s vessel law in 2012 and 2013, it wasn’t until 2014 that numerous stakeholders, including state agencies, tribal organizations, municipalities, and Alaska legislators, attended a derelict vessel working group where it was determined

that the state’s outdated laws needed to be rewritten; law firm Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot offered pro bono assistance. In 2018, SB92 became a reality.

“The law does a lot of things,” says Lord. “The first is that it helps the state track down ownership of vessels by expanding registration requirements and introducing a titling program for boats over 24 feet in length. Registration only costs $24 every three years, but it’s not about

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the revenue—it’s a tracking issue and one more path to hold a person responsible for their vessel.” The legislature did provide a titling exemption for vessels under 24 feet because they were concerned about the burden on individuals.

The bill was also rewritten to streamline definitions of derelict and abandoned boats and to tighten up the definition of ownership. “Now the last person to sign the document title can clearly be held accountable,” says Lord.

Because boats are protected under

The Ocean Clipper ran aground near St. Paul Island without adequate insurance coverage for removal.

It sat for years before NOAA received the funds to hire Resolve Marine to remove it. ©Dan Magone

80 | March 2019

Alaska Business

www.akbizmag.com

federal maritime laws, they are treated differently in the courts than cars or houses. “Boat owners are afforded more rights under federal law, and SB92 provides more appropriate due process, as well as clarifies issues for those who impound the vessels,” explains Lord.

One critical component of the effort is the creation of a derelict vessel prevention program designed to help prevent these types of problems from occurring.

“No one in the country has enough money to deal with derelict vessels, so

we need to think more creatively,” says Lord. “The bill allows us to pilot a voluntary vessel turn-in program and to create a point person from the Department of Natural Resources who can help maintain this focus. Scrap and salvage have a long way to go in Alaska, and the ability to haul boats out is a challenge. But we’re seeing programs like this work in Washington and California; those states are saving money by having boats turned in before they sink.”

The law went into effect on January

1, 2019. While Lord expects that it may move slowly, she is encouraged that change is finally on its way.

“When we started the task force, the state was pushing us to deal with the problem on a municipal level, but we didn’t have the resources; the fleets around Alaska can’t absorb the costs of these derelict boats,” she says. “But over time, everyone has come to appreciate that it is not an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ thing— we all need to work together cooperatively to solve the problem.”

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March 2019 | 81

ENERGY

Electrifying the Railbelt Planning for a transco moves forward

By Julie Stricker

W

hen a Fairbanks resident flips on a light, the electricity that powers it may have been generated 600 miles away at the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric facility near Homer.

Or it may have come from a natural gas facility near Anchorage, or one of Golden Valley Electric Association’s (GVEA) coalfired plants in Healy.

Most of Alaska’s population lives along the Railbelt, which is served by six utilities. Although they are all linked, they operate individually. But electricity demand is expected to rise in coming 82 | March 2019

years and long-term plans are needed, says Chris Rose, executive director of the Renewable Energy Alaska Project.

“It’s a dynamic situation,” Rose says.

“Electric vehicles could really change the demand on the electric grid in the Railbelt. It’s gonna happen. The electric system has to be ready for it. We need to have a regional electricity and generation plan, which we do not have. All six utilities do their planning individually, which is very inefficient and suboptimal.

We have a regional grid, one that is physically connected, but we don’t operate it

as a regional grid. We don’t plan for it on a regional basis.

“And it’s a big problem.”

It’s a problem that state legislators and regulators have been working on for a number of years, Rose says. A solution may be in sight.

Six different utilities own and operate the generating facilities and transmission lines in the Railbelt: GVEA, Matanuska Electric Association (MEA), Chugach Electric Association, Municipal Light & Power, Homer Electric Association, and the City of Seward. Several attempts have

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

MEA line crews conduct routine maintenance on their system in Palmer.

MEA

been made over the years to consolidate and streamline the utilities, with little success. It’s not a matter of pooling resources, it’s more about making sure supply and demand for electricity across the grid is balanced—with costs and risks divided equitably—and appropriate access given to independent power producers.

Right now, with each utility overseeing its own portion of the grid, getting power from Bradley Lake to Fairbanks, for instance, involves “rate pancaking.” Those stacked transmission tariffs could make it less feasible for independent power producers to develop lower-cost renewable energy solutions. And, since each utility puts its customers first, long-term planning is difficult because there is little incentive for one utility to invest in a project that doesn’t directly benefit its customers.

In 2015, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) asked the Railbelt utilities to work together to streamline electrical www.akbizmag.com

MEA transmission lines during construction near the Eklutna Generation Station power plant on the Glenn Highway.

MEA

service. One option is to form a single transmission company, or transco. This utility would oversee the transmission of power over the Railbelt and would not own any generation assets. The transco would “operate, maintain, plan, and construct electric transmission lines in and around the existing service territories of the Railbelt utilities,” according the utilities’ progress report to the RCA in 2015.

Wisconsin-based American Transmission Co. put together a similar project in the Midwest and is interested in doing the same in Alaska. Over the past four years, American Transmission has been working with the Railbelt utilities and state regulators. Despite several delays, Eric Myers, manager of business development for American Transmission, said in January that progress was looking positive.

“The first quarter of this year is going to be an important period of time for this effort,” he says.

Alaska Business

“All six utilities do their planning individually, which is very inefficient and suboptimal. We have a regional grid, one that is physically connected, but we don’t operate it as a regional grid.”

—Chris Rose Executive Director, REAP

March 2019 | 83

Substations like the Hospital substation in Palmer reduce high voltage power carried by transmission lines down to a lower voltage that can be delivered to homes and businesses.

MEA

Over the past eight months, each of the Railbelt utilities’ respective governing boards have approved filing of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to form a transco, subject to certain conditions, including a final operating agreement consistent with the terms discussed to date and simultaneous progress on a Railbelt-wide reliability organization, Myers says.

Each of the utilities is participating in discussions to finalize a CPCN application, according to Myers. Each utility will then evaluate the final application before it is filed. After that, RCA will review the application and supporting materials to make sure they are complete and put it before the public, an effort that could take up to six months, Myers says. RCA will grant the certificate if it determines the transco “is in the public’s convenience and necessary to serve the public interest,” Myers says.

84 | March 2019

Many Layers There are several layers to any agreement, says Julie Estey, director of public relations for MEA. First is the establishment of a transco, which would oversee the Railbelt transmission system and provide one transmission tariff for entities that want to use the transmission system. Myers describes it as an “unlimited minutes cell phone plan” instead of the old way of paying for long-distance calls by the minute, with different rates for different times and locations.

“Merging those into one tariff would simplify the process for power sellers, but does not reduce the costs that need to be recovered,” Estey notes.

Myers says setting a single tariff makes it more convenient to settle those transactions between utilities but also reflects the way the transmission network looks.

“Running more or less power doesn’t really change the cost of operating the

system,” he says. “It’s like a glass, and it works just as well at three-quarters capacity as it does at one-quarter capacity.”

MEA believes a transco would benefit the Railbelt, Estey says. “However, we also believe there needs to be a separate organization that plans and prioritizes the projects based on reliability standards and cost/benefit analysis,” she says.

This organization is also in development: the Railbelt Reliability Council (RRC).

It would handle the development and enforcement of reliability standards (which drive the need for transmission projects), open-access protocols for independent power producers, and integrated resource planning.

“Because any construction would impact rates for homes and businesses throughout the Railbelt, the RRC would provide a check and balance function to ensure the transco is building prioritized projects based on a cost/benefit analysis.

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“The combined transco and Railbelt Reliability Council will lower costs to consumers by stabilizing and rationalizing transmission pricing and increasing grid reliability and resiliency.”

—Lee Thibert, CEO Chugach Electric

However, the RRC’s makeup and overall jurisdiction are still undecided.

As of January, MEA was still in discussions with the other Railbelt utilities and American Transmission “to ensure the transco benefits exceed the costs,” Estey says.

The RRC is also an essential piece for Chugach Electric Association.

“The combined transco and Railbelt Reliability Council will lower costs to consumers by stabilizing and rationalizing transmission pricing and increas-

ing grid reliability and resiliency,” says Chugach Electric CEO Lee Thibert.

Economic Dispatch One hurdle is the gulf between generation costs along the grid. In Fairbanks, a resident pays about 20 cents per kilowatt hour. Bradley Lake hydro costs are about 4 cents per kilowatt hour. The newer natural gas facilities in Southcentral are somewhere in between.

However, it doesn’t make sense to just use the lowest cost power, because at

this time, Bradley Lake doesn’t generate enough power for the entire Railbelt, Myers says. What makes more sense is to balance generation across the grid so that each power plant is generating electricity at its optimum level.

Using the analogy that a car is more fuel-efficient at highway speeds than in stop-and-go traffic, Myers says that if a power plant is most efficient at 55 mph, but only needs to operate at 35 mph, there is a benefit to customers and those whose alternative cost of power is more expensive to continue to operate at 55 mph and send the extra power down the line.

“So not only does it keep them from running their more expensive power plant, but it allows you to run your power plant at optimal speed,” he says. “That’s economic dispatch.”

It creates positive externalities to fully load a unit, he says. And by working together, the Railbelt utilities can maximize their efficiencies and minimize their costs.

Infrastructure Improvements In 2017, the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) identified a list of projects needed

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Transmission lines like this one near Palmer are necessary to deliver large quantities of high voltage power from power plants to the communities they serve.

MEA

to bring Railbelt infrastructure up to peak reliability and efficiency standards.

The Railbelt Transmission Plan includes $885 million in projects, about half of which would improve energy transmission from AEA’s Bradley Lake hydro plant to Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, and Fairbanks.

Currently, Bradley Lake is capable of outputting 120 megawatts of power, but the Kenai Peninsula’s dated transmission system, parts of which are more than fifty years old, limits it to 65 megawatts, the report says. The proposals would add redundant systems between the Kenai Peninsula and Chugach Alaska’s Beluga power plant via a subsea highvoltage direct current line. Additional lines would add redundancy between Point MacKenzie/Willow and Willow/ Healy.

Southcentral utilities balked, saying the upgrades could be done at a much lower cost.

86 | March 2019

Katie Conway, AEA’s director of external affairs, says, “The list of projects identified in the AEA transmission study, finalized in 2017, were those required by the set of reliability standards in the Railbelt region at the time the study was undertaken. Reliability standards contain within them a set of transmission planning standards which are followed to develop a list of projects such as those found in the transmission study.

“One of the traditional roles of a transmission company in the Lower 48 is to keep this type of transmission planning document up to date and current. We anticipate that a Railbelt transco would follow the same process that AEA used in developing the list of projects in the 2016 transmission study to guide longterm Railbelt planning efforts.”

Since the completion of the transmission study in 2017, there have been additions and deletions to the generation portfolio in the Railbelt region, Conway

notes.

“It is reasonable to assume that there could be modifications to the plan if it were to be revised today,” she says.

A typical process is for interconnected utilities to follow a hierarchal structure of planning and operating standards. In Alaska, this hierarchy currently has the transmission planning standards contained wholly within the set of aforementioned reliability standards.

A transco would be the entity responsible for maintaining this set of transmission planning documents.

“Often these documents have immediate, short term, and long term planning horizons,” Conway says. “They are updated on an annual basis and brought forward to a regulatory body with recommendations on how to proceed. This is how long-term planning is typically done and would benefit the ratepayers in the Railbelt through a consistent, transparent process.”

Ideally, says Myers, a network needs to

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“Work now is focused on ensuring each party understands its role and associated costs and is confident that the transco is being structured properly to achieve its intended goal—specifically, the coordinated operation and improvement of the Railbelt’s network of transmission assets to maintain and improve reliability and facilitate the efficient use of the Railbelt’s electric generation resources.”

—Eric Myers Manager of Business Development American Transmission

be able to handle peak demand, similar to how a good road system can handle rush hour and still enable a fire truck to get through in an emergency.

Dividing the Costs Another question is how to equitably share the cost of the transmission between utilities.

Basing the equation on peak demand times, Myers says the transco would

look at everyone’s load on the system at peak use.

“That’s how we divide up the total network cost for the year because that’s what really determines what we choose to build,” he says. “Say Utility A accounts for 15 percent of that peak usage, so they will pay on an annual basis for 15 percent of the cost of the network.”

At this point, Myers says, the “big questions” have been on the table and under

discussion for quite some time.

“Work now is focused on ensuring each party understands its role and associated costs and is confident that the transco is being structured properly to achieve its intended goal—specifically, the coordinated operation and improvement of the Railbelt’s network of transmission assets to maintain and improve reliability and facilitate the efficient use of the Railbelt’s electric generation resources.”

Our Environment

More than twenty years ago, Fort Knox gold mine began production just outside Fairbanks.

With hard work and a dedicated staff, Fort Knox has become one of Alaska’s most successful mines.

Fort Knox’s support for Friends of Creamer’s Field and the waterfowl refuge is a testament to the mine’s commitment to environmental stewardship. Creamer’s attracts visitors from around the world during the spring bird migration, local residents enjoy its quiet walking trails, and both children and adults benefit from Friends of Creamer’s Field’s many education programs that raise awareness of our natural environment. Learn more at friendsofcreamersfield.org. www.akbizmag.com

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Since 1996

March 2019 | 87

MINING

Last winter, Trilogy Metals completed a pre-feasibility study on its Arctic project near Kobuk. © Andy West | Trilogy Metals

Mining Matters The future looks bright for Alaska’s commodities

By Vanessa Orr

A

laska has always been a state that depends on natural resources.

And while much of its history is based around mining, the industry is poised to play a large part in its future as well. According to Alaska’s Mineral Industry 2017, published by Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, the value of the state’s mineral industry in 2017 totaled $3.15 billion, an increase of roughly 12 percent from 2016. And while numbers are just starting to come in for 2018, it looks like 88 | March 2019

investment in this area will continue to grow.

How the State Ranks According to the report, Alaska ranks in the top ten for global reserves and resources of major metals and coal. The state holds 12 percent of the world’s coal resources (the second most in the world) and 3 percent of the world’s lead (the sixth most in the world). It also contains 3 percent of its gold (ninth most in the world), 4 percent of its zinc (seventh most in the world), 2 percent of its silver (tenth most in the world), and 0.2 percent of its copper (eleventh most in the world).

There are currently six operating mines in the state, which include Teck Alaska’s Red Dog mine, one of the world’s largest zinc mines; Hecla’s Greens Creek mine, one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost primary silver mines; Northern Star

Resources’ Pogo mine; Kinross-owned Fort Knox; Coeur Alaska’s Kensington Mine; and Usibelli Coal Mine. Zinc is the top metal produced, accounting for more than half of Alaska’s total metal production by value, followed by gold at 33 percent, lead at 8.8 percent, and silver at 7.7 percent.

And while the demand for these mined minerals stays steady, providing employment for the more than 9,000 direct and indirect jobs attributed to the industry according to Economic Impact of Mining in Alaska, prepared by the McDowell Group for the Alaska Miners Association, what’s even more exciting is that quite a number of advancedexploration and development projects are underway—some at existing sites and some at newly discovered areas—that may bring even more mines to fruition in the near future.

Expanding Markets It’s a bit ironic that even as society moves away from fossil fuels, investing more time and money into alternatives like solar and wind power, this new direction

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Trilogy Metals has made a commitment to promote employment for NANA shareholders.

Trilogy Metals

is creating an even higher demand for more mined commodities.

“Copper is a very unique metal given its physical properties as the best conductor of electricity apart from gold, which is very expensive,” explains Patrick Donnelly, vice president of corporate communications and development for Trilogy Metals. “Because of a concern with air quality, we are globally moving toward an energy future that relies less on fossil fuels. But electric vehicles, for example, are run by batteries that require copper.”

While typical vehicles use twenty to fifty pounds of copper, electric vehicles require much more, according to Donnelly, adding that the metal is also required for the infrastructure—such as charging stations—that these new automobiles require.

“As we move away from combustion engines to electric engines, the demand will increase significantly,” he says.

While much of the world’s copper comes from South America, Donnelly says that the market can expect to see a crunch on the supply side in the coming years.

“These large mining companies have been developing underground mines—billion dollar projects—that are yielding lower grade product at a higher cost,” he explains. “These mines were developed to replace the current supply—not to add to it—because the demand for copper is so high.

“A number of places in southern Africa and in Mongolia, where they also produce a lot of copper, are politically unstable,” he adds. “Companies want to work with mining companies in a stable jurisdiction, and that bodes well for Alaska.”

Cobalt is another mineral that is becoming more in demand as it is one of the main ingredients in electric batteries.

“There is not much cobalt in North America; 90 percent of it comes from www.akbizmag.com

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Wayne Hall, manager of community and public relations at Teck Alaska/Red Dog Mine, says that zinc is another mineral high in demand, especially for its use in galvanizing steel to prevent corrosion.

“We expect steady demand growth for zinc in 2019–2020, which bodes well for Red Dog and Teck,” says Hall. Red Dog Operations is one of the world’s largest zinc mines, producing both zinc and lead concentrate that is exported to various markets worldwide.

According to the Office of International Trade, in 2017 Alaska shipped mineral ores and concentrates, metal ores and concentrates, and coal to sixteen countries in Europe, North and South America, and the Asia-Pacific region. Export values totaled $1.81 billion, up nearly 17 percent from 2016 numbers.

Exploration and Expansion

Hecla Greens Creek Mining Company is continuing to explore a number of areas on its 23-square-mile land package.

Hecla Greens Creek Mining Company

southern Africa,” says Donnelly. “Unfortunately, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a corrupt, violent nation, and companies don’t want to bring in metals that aren’t ethically sourced or where there are human rights violations.

“We believe that there are approximately 77 million pounds of cobalt at our Bornite site, which, if mined, would be the only project producing cobalt in the United States,” he continues. “The US Geologic Survey has stated that cobalt is a critical metal for the United States, so this has significant implications for the state.”

90 | March 2019

Innovative uses for gold are also driving the demand for this mineral higher.

According to the World Gold Council, gold is being used for everything from internet wiring to the creation of rapid diagnostic tests that are used to diagnose disease. Gold-based drugs have been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and research is ongoing to see what role it can play in cancer treatment.

Visual display technologies, such as touch-sensitive screens, use gold nano technologies that may also have potential for use in data storage technologies, including advanced flash memory drives.

According to the Department of Natural Resources survey, mineral exploration rose dramatically in 2017, increasing to $120.8 million, nearly doubling what was spent in 2016. The majority of this investment was spent on undeveloped prospects and deposits in the state.

Donlin Gold’s project, located in Western Alaska in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region, is considered to have great potential. One of the largest known, undeveloped gold deposits in the world, the project has probable reserves estimated at 33.8 million ounces of gold, and the company estimates that the proposed mine could produce more than 1 million ounces of gold annually during operation. This production level would make Donlin Gold one of the world’s largest gold mines.

“We received most of our major federal and state permits in 2018 after a six-year environmental review process,” says Kurt Parkan, external affairs manager for Donlin Gold. “This is a major milestone in the project’s development, but we are still several years away from construction.”

Greens Creek is also looking to explore land related to its current mining operation.

“We have a very specific area based on our land status that we can explore because we are in a national monument,” explains Mike Satre, manager of government and community relations, of the mine’s location within the Admiralty Island National Monument. “Our work is focused on an extension of the known ore bodies.”

He adds that the company is continu-

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

ing to explore a number of areas on its 23-square-mile land package that could potentially lead to additional reserves and resources, further extending the mine life. In 2018, 8 million ounces of silver and 51,493 ounces of gold were produced at Greens Creek, with the majority of metal concentrates being shipped to smelters in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and China.

Teck Alaska is also continuing to explore its Anarraaq and Aktigiruq deposits in the Red Dog District with the goal of determining the size and extent of the mineral deposits in order to assess whether it is economically and environmentally viable to extend mining operations beyond the estimated mine life of 2031.

Hall says that Teck was pleased with the mine’s 2018 results and in 2019 plans to continue upgrade and expansion plans.

“Work will continue on the $110 million mill upgrade project known as the Value Improvement Project 2, which is expected to increase average mill throughput by about 15 percent over the remaining mine life,” he says, adding that the project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

Last winter, Trilogy Metals completed a pre-feasibility study on its Arctic project near Kobuk, with the goal of establishing a conventional open-pit copper-zinclead-silver-gold mine-and-mill complex for a 10,000 tonne-per-day operation.

The project is currently getting ready to enter the permitting stage. “We’re confident it will become a mine; the economics are outstanding, even in a weak copper environment,” says Donnelly.

The Bornite deposit, which is approximately 25 kilometers southwest of the company’s Arctic deposit, has been shown to have potential indicated resources of 900 million pounds of copper and inferred resources of 5.5 billion pounds of copper and 77 million pounds of cobalt. This project is still in the early stages; the company has drilled twenty-five holes in the last two years.

“There are no economics yet on Bornite; we will update the resource estimate by the end of February 2019, and we’ll see how it shakes out early this year,” says Donnelly. “When we put the economics on, we’ll see how it holds together—we think it will be a mine.”

As new uses for Alaska’s mined commodities continue to grow, so will the need for more exploration and expansion of the state’s current mining capabilities. www.akbizmag.com

In 2018, 8 million ounces of silver and 51,493 ounces of gold were produced at Greens Creek.

Hecla Greens Creek Mining Company

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 91

EAT

SHOP

PLAY

STAY

Dog Mushing

A

laska is home to the Iditarod: the Last Great Race. Every March determined mushers and their teams of incredible animals traverse 1,000 miles of sweeping mountains, frozen rivers, dense forest, remote tundra, and windy coastline. The race’s history, the determination of its human competitors, and the energy, strength, and beauty of its canine contestants all contribute to the allure of what has become an internationally iconic event.

So it’s no surprise that visitors to the Last Frontier often want more insight into the race, the racers, and the one-of-a-kind Alaskan huskies bred to run it. Fortunately, sled dog mushers love to share their passion, and listed below are opportunities around the state for locals or out-ofstate travelers to (most importantly) cuddle with husky puppies—while learning more about the official sport of the 49th State.

Seavey’s Ididaride provides summer and winter dog sled tours in various packages; in particular, their winter tours are unique in that the clients are able to drive their own sled dog team, partnered with a guide to provide assistance when necessary. These self-driven tours range from two hours to the three-plus night

custom Iditarod Dog Sledding Expedition, where guests traverse up to 150 miles over the historic Iditarod trail. ididaride.com Turning Heads Kennel says, “Our dog sled tours are the heart and soul of what we do. They are our way of sharing what we love with an interested public and help us

ON THE TRAIL

sustain our kennel financially so that we can continue doing what we love.” Tours range from just over an hour to a three day/two night excursion. turningheadskennel.com Alaska Mushing School is “a small group of professional dog mushers who have raced in distances from 100 to 1,000 miles, from the Iditarod to the Yukon Quest to the Kuskokwim 300 and more.” They offer sled dog rides all year, including in the summer and fall. In the winter they offer a half-day mushing school or full-day mushing adventure, where participants can learn to drive the sleds themselves. alaskamushingschool.com Black Spruce Dog Sledding’s dogs compete in 200-400 mile races in addition to the Iditarod.

In their off season, the dogs work with their human team members to provide tours in the Fairbanks area. Tours are available yearround and generally range from about two to three hours in length; tours include learning to drive a sled, riding on a sled or wheeled vehicle, or nature walks with the husky puppies and/or adult dogs. blacksprucedogsledding.com Cotter’s Sled Dog Kennel is owned and operated by Iditarod musher Bill Cotter, who has entered and finished more than 150 sled dog races in his forty-year career.

Cotter hosts a school for novice and intermediate dog mushers as well as provides sled dog rides and kennel tours during the winter season. billcotterkennel.com Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service provides a variety of tours, among them dog sledding tours that can range from 30 minute to 4 hour adventures. According to the company, “This isn’t just a ride on a dog sled. Our team loves talking about their fourlegged family members. Every tour includes commentary

92 | March 2019

from your local guide/musher.” rodsalaskanguideservice.com Husky Homestead is the home of four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King; operating from mid-May to mid-September, the kennel offers three tours daily that run about 2.5 hours. Guests can cuddle with husky puppies, view summer training in action, and get insight into an authentic Alaskan lifestyle. huskyhomestead.com Alpine Air Alaska offers an exciting opportunity to learn about the dedicated dog sled teams of Alaskan huskies that includes a helicopter ride into the majestic Chugach Mountains and onto Punch Bowl Glacier, 3,200 feet above sea level. Once there, guests learn how the dogs are bred, trained to pull the sled, and how they have everlasting endurance, followed by a ride around the glacier enjoying the scenic peaks and surrounding valleys. alpineairalaska.com/glacierdog-sledding NorthStar Trekking offers guests the Juneau Glacier Dog Sled Adventure, where they experience the magnificence of Juneau’s Norris Glacier through the eyes of an Iditarod musher. They have the opportunity to mush their own sled team of huskies across the snowcapped Juneau Icefield, learning the tricks of the trade from seasoned veterans of Alaska’s legendary Iditarod. northstartrekking.com Salmon Berry Travel & Tours offers a dog sled tour opportunity in the winter season from late November to early April for groups of up to twelve. The tour is about eight hours long, and the full-day adventure takes place in Talkeetna at the homestead of Dallas Seavey, who has won the Iditarod four times. It includes a 10 kilometer mini expedition as well as meeting the dogs and learning the language from an experienced musher. salmonberrytours.com

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

John Schweiker TITLE: Account Executive LOCATION: Anchorage, Alaska DATE HIRED: June 12, 1984 NOTES: A 2016 Presidential Award winner. Active in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska. Big Brother to 2nd Lieutenant ~a, USAF, since he was 8 years old. Lives happily Pedro Pen with his wife Nancy and their cats, Princess and Abby.

Matson’s people are more than Alaska shipping experts. They are part of what makes our community unique. Visit Matson.com

EAT

SHOP

PLAY

STAY

MAR ASAA State 13-23 Basketball

ANCHORAGE

MAR Iditarod Start 2 “The Last Great Race” holds its official start at 10 a.m. at 4th Avenue and D Street in downtown Anchorage. The restart takes place the following day (March 3) at 10 a.m. at the lake at the Willow Community Center in Willow, and the awards banquet takes place at the Nome Recreation Center on March 17. iditarod.com

ANCHORAGE

MAR Empty Bowl 9 This is the annual spring fundraiser for Bean’s Café, a nonprofit organization with the mission to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Dena’ina Center. Purchasing a ticket allows the attendee to select one locally made and donated bowl to take home, as well as enjoy soup and cornbread. beanscafe.org

94 | March 2019

EVENTS CALENDAR

Tournaments Alaska’s best boys and girls high school basketball teams gather at the Alaska Airlines Center on the hardwood to crown multiple new champions during the ASAA 2019 March Madness Alaska. 1A and 2A compete March 13-16, and 3A and 4A teams compete March 21-23. asaa.org

MAR Alaska Aviation 9 Hall of Fame Gala The annual Alaska Aviation Hall of Fame Gala will be held at the Hotel Captain Cook in downtown Anchorage.

The Alaska Aviation Hall of Fame is a celebration of the men and women who shaped Alaska’s aviation history.

The Hall of Fame also serves as the primary fundraiser for the museum, providing support for the museum’s exhibits, educational programs, and public programs. alaskaairmuseum.org

MAR Shamrock 16 Shuffle Organized by Skinny Raven, this is the 8th annual Shamrock Shuffle, which gets better every year, thanks to participants and their fellow leprechauns. Race participants dress up in Kelly green to run and walk, starting at Bear Tooth TheatrePub at 12:30 p.m. skinnyraven.com

MAR Ski Train 23 The Alaska Railroad, polka music, and skiing: the ski train to Curry is a must for cross country skiers. The special train departs Anchorage early in the morning, and when it arrives in Curry skiers have this special, snowy spot all to themselves for the day. Party cars, polka cars, quiet cars, and others on the train mean a fun ride no matter how you roll.

NSAA membership is required to purchase Ski Train tickets, and all passengers, including the ticket purchaser, must be NSAA members. alaskarailroad.com

FAIRBANKS

MAR Interior Wedding 3 Showcase This bridal show has more than sixty vendors to help couples plan their special day, from jewelers and caterers to photographers, venues, DJs, and florists, all at the Westmark Hotel and Conference Center,

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

11 a.m. to 4 p.m. westmarkhotels. com/destinations/fairbanks-hotel

ANCHORAGE

MAR Symphony of Wines 28 Join the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra at the Hotel Captain Cook at 7:00 p.m. for its Annual Symphony of Wines, an event that features appetizers, one-of-a-kind silent auction items, and sampling of more than one hundred wines—favorites can be ordered at a discount from Anchorage Wine House.

All proceeds benefit the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra. anchoragesymphony.org

MAR GCI Open North 15-17 American Sled Dog

Championship The Alaska Dog Mushers Association hosts spring sled dog races at the Mushers Hall on Farmers Loop Road. alaskadogmushers.com

MAR Trappers Fling 16 Hosted by the Alaska Trappers Association, the 2019 Trappers Fling features raffles, auctions, awards, and fine dining at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center. alaskatrappers.org

HOMER

MAR Winter King 23 Salmon

Tournament The Annual Winter King Salmon Tournament is sponsored by the Homer Chamber of Commerce and takes place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. homeralaska.org

THOMPSON PASS

MAR-APR Tailgate Alaska 29-7 Tailgate Alaska began in a single tent on Thompson Pass with a handful of professional athletes, media veterans, six cases of beer, and a few dedicated recreational riders. It began a new model to market snowboarding— one which put inclusion, experience, and participation above everything else. Simply put, everyone who has attended Tailgate Alaska has been a participant—nobody comes to watch. tailgateak.com

WASILLA

WASILLA

MAR-APR Disney’s The 22-14 Little Mermaid This musical is based on the Hans Christian Anderson story and Disney film with music

by Alan Menken. Disney’s The Little Mermaid is filled with all of the things that families have loved about the animated classic with some of the bestknown songs from the past thirty years. Shows take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. valleyperformingarts.org

MAR Mat-Su 22-24 Outdoorsman

Show The event includes a gun show, a free archery range for kids, a laser shooting range for all ages, more than one hundred booths, seminars and demonstrations, and book signing, all at the Menard Sports Center on Friday from Noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. chinookshows.com

AVISALASKA.COM/VIP

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Alaska Business

March 2019 | 95

BUSINESS EVENTS MARCH MARCH 7-8

Alaska Forest Association Spring Meeting Baranof Hotel, Juneau: The Alaska Forest Association can be characterized as a high-profile industry trade association. Its members hold in common general business interests in the timber industry of Alaska. akforest.org MARCH 8-10

Alaska Academy of Family Physicians Winter Update Hotel Alyeska, Girdwood: The Winter Update is an opportunity to earn CME credit and learn about a range of topics that interest the Family Physicians of Alaska. alaskaafp.org/2019-winter-update MARCH 19-21

American Fisheries Society Annual Chapter Meeting Sitka: The theme of this year’s meeting is “Headwaters to oceans, connecting Alaska’s fisheries.”

Sessions will address the mission to improve conservation and sustainability of fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems by advancing scientific research and promoting development of fisheries professionals. www.afs-alaska.org/2019-2 MARCH 23-24

AKANA Annual Meeting Embassy Suites, Anchorage: The annual meeting of the Alaska Association of Nurse Anesthetists is an opportunity for networking and education. alaskacrna.com MARCH 28-30

ComFish Alaska Kodiak: ComFish is the largest commercial fishing show in Alaska and the longest running fisheries trade show in the state, now in its 40th year, bringing together gear 96 | March 2019

vendors, government agencies, and nonprofits involved in every aspect of commercial fishing. kodiakchamber.org/comfish APRIL APRIL 1-3

Governor’s Safety and Health Conference Egan Center, Anchorage: The Alaska Safety Advisory Council works with organizations to promote safety so that resources can be marshaled and used to reduce accidental death and injury. akgshc.com APRIL 4-5

AKHIMA Annual Meeting BP Energy Center, Anchorage: The Alaska Health Information Management Association (AKHIMA) is a state organization affiliated with the national organization American Health Information Management Association, an association of health information management professionals worldwide. akhima.org APRIL 4-6

AKMGMA Annual Conference

APRIL 11-13

MAY 13-16

AKSRT Annual Conference

AWWMA Statewide Conference

Wedgewood Resort, Fairbanks: This conference offers Category A+ or A continuing education credits. Credits are accepted by the ARRT and ARDMS for Ultrasound. aksrt.com

Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: This conference is a venue for information, technology, expertise, curiosity, and thirst (for refreshment and knowledge) for the Alaska Water Wastewater Management Association. awwma.org

MAY MAY 2-4

ACP Alaska Chapter Meeting Sheraton Hotel & Spa, Anchorage: ACP is the American College of Physicians, and the annual chapter meeting is an opportunity for CME credits and MOC points. acponline.org

MAY 16-19

ACUL Annual Meeting Talkeetna: The Alaska Credit Union League’s annual meeting is an opportunity to gather, network, and learn. alaskacreditunions.org/ events.html

MAY 2-4

Alaska VFW State Convention Anchorage: The annual convention includes a Joint Memorial Service, VFW Business Session, guest banquets, and other events. alaskavfw.org MAY 7-10

Wakefield Fisheries Symposium

MAY 16-19

Alaska Optometric Association CE Conference Alyeska Resort, Girdwood: The mission of the AKOA is to influence the future of eye care by ensuring the welfare of Alaskans and promoting the continued development of the profession of optometry. akoa.org MAY 17-18

Alyeska Resort, Girdwood: The Alaska Medical Group Management Association is a professional organization of group practice administrators, managers, healthcare executives, consultants, and vendors located throughout Alaska. akmgma.org

Anchorage: This symposium aims to provide a forum for discussion on ways to facilitate effective cooperative research, a platform for scientific talks on the application and results of cooperative research, and opportunity to evaluate how such research might be best envisioned, applied, and implemented. seagrant.uaf.edu

APRIL 10-12

MAY 8-10

2019 CLSA Conference

Alaska Bar Convention

Hilton Anchorage: The theme of this year’s conference for the Clinical Laboratory Scientists of Alaska is “Lab Science the Central Piece of the Puzzle.” ascls-ak.org/students/ clsa-conference/

Fairbanks: This conference provides opportunities to complete CLE requirements as well as an opening reception, several luncheons, and an awards reception and dinner. alaskabar.org

Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: AOGA hosts a one-day conference focused on industry trends, legal and scientific issues surrounding development, and national and state-level energy policies and politics. aoga.org

ADS Annual Meeting Juneau: The annual meeting of the Alaska Dental Society, which is “Committed to enhancing the dental profession and the health of all Alaskans.” akdental.org MAY 30

Alaska Oil & Gas Association

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Michele Logan & Julie Shank THE MEETING: International Association of Women Police 2019 Annual Training Conference September 23-27, 2019 800 delegates Estimated Economic Impact: $1,633,543

S

erving the community comes naturally to Detective Michele Logan and Captain Julie Shank. And their dedication to improving the city goes beyond the badge. They made the case for an Anchorage meeting of their professional organization. The International Association of Women Police comes to Anchorage this fall as a result of their work. The conference brings the economic benefits of a large event, as well as a sterling opportunity for Alaska law enforcement to tap into international expertise.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF AN ASSOCIATION? CONTACT VISIT ANCHORAGE TO BRING YOUR GROUP TO TOWN: MEETINGS@ANCHORAGE.NET | 907.257.2349

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IN ANCHORAGE

EET I N

AM

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MEETINGS PAY

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RIGHT MOVES Office of the Governor Former-Governor Bill Walker appointed four new judges for Alaska.  Bethany Harbison has practiced law in Alaska for almost twenty-five years after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1993. She clerked for Alaska’s Judge Greene, worked as a public defender and magistrate judge, and currently works as the presiding superior court judge, Fourth Judicial District, Fairbanks. She will join the Alaska Court of Appeals.  Terrence Haas practiced law in Alaska for close to ten years after graduating from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2007. He clerked for the Rhode Island Supreme Court before moving to Bethel, where he has been the supervisor for the Bethel and Dillingham Public Defender Offices for the last ten years.

He will join the Bethel Superior Court.  Daniel Schally has practiced law in Alaska for more than twenty years, clerking in Kodiak and working as an assistant district attorney for Southeast before becoming district court judge and superior court judge pro tempore in Southcentral in 2005. He will join the Juneau Superior Court.  Jason Gist has practiced law in Alaska for more than fourteen years after graduating from the University of California–Berkeley School of Law in 2004. He clerked for Alaska’s Chief Justice Alexander O. Bryner, worked in private practice, and has been an assistant district attorney for the State of Alaska since 2008.

He will join the Kenai Superior Court.  Governor Mike Dunleavy appointed John MacKinnon as commissioner

of the Department of Transportation. MacKinnon worked as executive director of the Associated General Contractors of MacKinnon Alaska from 2008 to 2018.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in marine resource ecology from Huxley College of Environmental Studies.

Great Alaskan Holidays  Kevin Linkenhoker has recently been hired as a fulltime member of the Great Alaskan Holidays vehicle maintenance technician Linkenhoker team. With more than six years of relative technical experience, Linkenhoker joins a long list of skilled technicians who are directly responsible for inspecting, maintaining, and ensuring the safe operation of Great Alaskan Holidays’ fleet of motor homes.

USDA  USDA appointed David Schmid as Regional Forester for the Forest Service’s Alaska Region. As regional forester, Schmid will oversee Schmid management of more than 22 million acres of National Forest System lands in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska.

Stantec The Anchorage office of Stantec has expanded its team supporting the oil and gas industry: joining the team are

William Cobb, PE, and Jenny Iwinski.

Additionally, Nick Arnold, PE, was promoted to Project Manager.  Cobb is a Senior Mechanical Engineer with more than twenty years of experience in the oil and gas industry, working on Cobb both onshore and offshore facilities. He is a US Army veteran and a graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in both mechanical and civil engineering.  Iwinski joins Stantec as its Projects Control Lead for petroleum work. She has more than ten years of experience in the oil and Iwinski gas industry, working on projects ranging in value from $1 million to $8 billion. She is a graduate of the University of Alaska Anchorage.  Arnold joined Stantec in 2017 as a project engineer; in his new project management role he is responsible for the delivery of a wide variety of projects Arnold for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

He has ten years of experience in the oil and gas industry and is a registered project management professional. He is a graduate of the University of Idaho.

Tlingit & Haida  Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska promoted Frances Andrews to Tribal Court Administrator.

Andrews joined the Tribal Court in July 2017 to serve as the lead clerk. In her

RIGHT MOVES IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY NORTHERN AIR CARGO

Real Alaskans. Real cargo.

98 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

new role, Andrews will be responsible for the day-today operations of the Tribal Court. Andrews is in her final year of school and will Andrews be receiving her bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in management from UAS.

Northrim Northrim Bank announced two new hires and two promotions.  Glenn Schmitz, Cybersecurity Program Manager, joins Northrim Bank with twenty-four years of IT and cybersecurity Schmitz experience with the US Air Force. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in information technology management from Trident University International.  Kristi Dent, Consumer Lender, comes to Northrim Bank after working at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union for the past nine years. She has worked in consumer lending Dent for three years and holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Western Governors University.  Anita DeVore, VP Regional Sales and Service Manager, has been with Northrim Bank for more than fourteen years. She has more than twenty-five years DeVore of experience in the banking industry.

DeVore holds a Series 65 securities license as an investment advisor representative for Northrim Investment Services.  Maia Hernandez, AVP, Branch Manager Float Team, joined Northrim

Bank in 2015 and has eleven years of experience in the industry, starting as a teller and advancing to a business banker and float manager.

Hernandez

AWCC  Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center welcomed Dr. Michelle Oakley as the newest addition to the animal care Oakley staff. Oakley will perform veterinary duties including diagnosis, assisting in treatments, and researching medical conditions of AWCC’s resident animals. Oakley joins AWCC with eighteen years’ experience as a veterinarian, having previously worked at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and the Calgary Zoo.

UAF  Stacey Glaser has been hired as Director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue. Glaser has been with Chukchi Campus Glaser for more than twenty-one years. She served most recently as the director for the Chukchi Consortium Library in Kotzebue, a job that included managing the branch library in the village of Selawik.

Glaser earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Washington.

GCI  GCI promoted Heather Handyside to Vice President of Corporate Communications and Community

Engagement within the company’s legal and policy department. In her new role, Handyside and her team will bring even greater focus and Handyside intensity to GCI’s external messaging on policy issues. Handyside, who joined GCI in 2015, will continue to serve as the company’s primary spokesperson, utilizing her twenty years of government, nonprofit, and private sector communications experience.

TOTE Maritime  Alex Hofeling has been selected as the Vice President and General Manager for TOTE Maritime’s Alaska Hofeling office and operations. In this role, Hofeling will oversee both the Anchorage and Fairbanks offices.

Hofeling has been with TOTE Maritime since September 2013. Over the last five years, Hofeling played an instrumental role in TOTE Maritime’s success in Alaska. Before TOTE, Hofeling worked for Coastal Transportation and served in the US Coast Guard.

DOL  Attorney General Kevin G. Clarkson appointed John Novak as the Anchorage District Attorney.

Novak has worked in the Novak Criminal Division of the Department of Law since 1990 and has worked on homicide cases, handling federal prosecutions as a Special Assistant to the United States Attorney, advising the Department of Public Safety, and more.

Gillnets. Crab pots. Catch of the Day. Whatever you need, we deliver.

Connect with us / 800.727.2141 / www.nac.aero /

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Alaska Business

March 2019 | 99

INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

Vigor

Vigor

In early January, the US Coast Guard’s most technologically advanced polar icebreaker, USCG Healy, arrived at Vigor’s Seattle shipyard for maintenance. The $7.3 million contract includes sea valve renewal and overhaul, bow thruster modifications, ballast tank and underwater hull paint preservation, and various machinery overhauls. The vessel will be at Vigor’s Harbor Island facility through June 2019. vigor.net

DCCED As of January 1, a business license endorsement is required for each location where electronic smoking products or nicotine products are sold. SB15, passed by the Alaska State Legislature in 2018, expands the endorsement currently required to sell tobacco products. Vending machine owners must also obtain the endorsement.

The endorsement extends to any retailer selling over-the-counter smoking cessation products, including pharmacies, and includes marijuana retailers selling electronic smoking products.

SB15 criminalizes selling or giving to a minor under the age of nineteen “electronic smoking products or products containing nicotine” without a prescription and increases civil penalties for sales to minors. commerce.alaska.gov

SEARHC In December, S.825, the Southeast Alaska Regional Land Health Consortium Land Transfer Act, 100 | March 2019

became law, conveying property in Sitka to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) for “use in connection with health and social services programs.” SEARHC’s goal is to build a facility on the property “suited to a 21 st century model of healthcare dominated by primary and ambulatory care facilities,” expanding critical healthcare services to the entire region. searhc.org

Lynden Lynden Air Cargo’s fleet of L382G aircraft now include fuel-efficient Microvanes that allow for energy savings as well as increased speed.

Engineered by Lockheed and licensed to Metro Aerospace, the Microvanes are small aerodynamic components that are surface mounted to the aft fuselage, effectively reshaping the air flow around the cargo door and tail.

The Microvanes are expected to result in fuel savings of up to 4 percent (up to 34,000 gallons of fuel saved per aircraft per year) depending on flight length on the Lynden fleet.

Lynden Air Cargo has also joined a short list of operators that serve all seven continents, providing support for an Italian Antarctic Expedition team conducting research on the icy land mass. lynden.com

KUAC KUAC TV 9.9, a service provided by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, launched 360 North in its television channel lineup. The 360 North channel provides Alaska public affairs, arts, culture, science, and health programming. Included on the channel is “Gavel Alaska,” which is tape-delayed, unedited coverage of state government activities, including the Alaska Legislature. kuac.org

EBDG Elliott Bay Design Group has opened a new East Coast office in New York.

The office will provide professional engineering and naval architecture

services as well as waterfront development expertise to clients on the East Coast and is a springboard for future growth in the region. ebdg.com

Blood Bank of Alaska Blood Bank of Alaska opened its first Juneau blood collection center in January. The center is located at 8800 Glacier Highway #236, and donations can be scheduled by calling 907-222-5630 or online at bloodbankofalaska.org.

UAF The Federal Aviation Administration and DOT expanded the scope of the Alaska Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program’s efforts to now include medical supply delivery in remote regions, with an initial test across Turnagain Arm fjord south of Anchorage. K2 Dronotics, Unmanned Systems Alaska, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks plan to conduct the first flights early in 2019.

Unmanned Systems Alaska, in conjunction with Battlespace Inc. and UAF, is working with the FAA to develop a process that may eventually lead to the standards under which Alaska unmanned aircraft operators can obtain the air carrier certificates required to commercially carry medical supplies and other cargo across the state. uaf.edu

Usibelli On January 30 Usibelli Coal Mine (UCM) achieved two years of operations without a single lost time accident, a job-related injury that results in time away from work.

“The number one priority at UCM is safety—every day, and in everything we do,” said UCM President and CEO Joe Usibelli Jr. The mine’s all-time safety record was set in 2006 at 797 days without a lost time accident. usibelli.com

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

AT A GLANCE What book is on your nightstand? I have been reading a lot of publications on the Arctic. With climate change, Arctic waters are opening up significantly… and the Chinese have proposed a “Polar Silk Road.”

What movie do you recommend to everyone?

Doctor Zhivago.

What’s the first thing you do after work? I get into some pajamas.

If you couldn’t live in Alaska, where would you live? Arizona, because there are a lot of Alaskans there and there are direct flights back and forth.

If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be? A moose—in times of need it could be a food source [she laughs].

Images © Kerry Tasker

102 | March 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

OFF THE CUFF

Gail R. Schubert B

ering Straits Native Corporation President and CEO Gail R. Schubert finds deep satisfaction in

her work to benefit the corporation’s shareholders, descendants, and communities. “Bering Straits has grown to a point where we’re able to increase shareholder development opportunities and I’m proud of that,” she states. “We’ve increased scholarship distributions, dividends, and distributions to Elders. Our growth is helping benefit our shareholders—that’s something I feel really good about.”

AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to most see perform live in concert?

Schubert: The Bee Gees. The ringtone for my husband’s number is a Bee Gees song.

AB: What’s something you’re superstitious about?

Schubert: If I’m working on something, I don’t like to project success. I’m fearful if I say something is going to be successful, that will work against it.

AB: What is your best attribute and your worst attribute?

Schubert: I think my best (and worst) attribute is my willingness to work hard and to work long hours. I think sometimes I don’t take enough personal time and it drives my husband Ed crazy.

Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time?

Gail R. Schubert: I plan on getting back into making jewelry again. I like working with ivory, trade beads, and semiprecious stones.

AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?

Schubert: I’d like to learn Iñupiaq—as I get older, I think it’s become a lot more important to me to understand and be able to speak the language.

AB: What is your go-to comfort food?

Schubert: Akutaq, especially salmon berry. Akutaq [also known as Eskimo ice cream] is a mixture of whipped animal fats or Crisco, flaked white fish, sugar, and berries.

[Schubert wants to learn to make it herself, but until she does, her favorite Akutaq source is her sister Joan.]

AB: Other than your current career, if you were a child today, what would your dream job be?

Schubert: A doctor.

AB: What’s your favorite way to exercise?

Schubert: Berry picking, walking, clam digging, fishing.

AB: What’s the most daring thing that you’ve ever done?

Schubert: Probably going to work in New York City when I graduated from Cornell Law School. www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

March 2019 | 103

ALASKA TRENDS

B

y most accounts Alaska is slowly emerging from a several year recession with forecasted job growth in multiple industries.

The construction industry is expected to gain some 900 jobs, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Healthcare and hospitality follow with an expected gain of 500 jobs for each industry, while the oil and gas industry should see an additional 300 jobs, the organization reports. Notably, the cruise ship industry is expected to break another record with an estimated 1.3 million passengers in 2019. Overall the state should see an additional 1,400 jobs in 2019 compared to a loss of 2,200 jobs last year.

Forecasted Job Gains & Losses in Alaska 2019 Construction 900

Total 1,400

The Detailed Employment Record for Alaska 2018* Healthcare 600 Trasnportation 400 Construction 300 Leisure & Hospitality 100 Federal Government -100 Local Government -300 State Government -300 Information -300 Manufacturing -400 Oil & Gas -500 PBS -700 Retail -800

Healthcare 500 Leisure & Hospitality 500 Oil and Gas 300 Transportation 200 Federal Government 200 Manufacturing -100 Information -100 Professional & Business Services -200 Financial Activities -200 State Government -200 Local Government -200 Retail -300 -300

0

300

600

900

1,200

Job Losses Forecast to End in 2019

1.6% 1.5%

0.4% 0.5% 0.3% 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

1,500

2016

2017

2018*

2019 Forecast

-0.7%

-1.3% Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce -1.6% Development, Research and Analysis Section

Gains & Losses by the Numbers

5,400 5,100

1,400 1,700 1,200

0.4%

Statewide change in jobs, 2011-2019 Forecast

*Preliminary

*JanuaryNovember 2018

-800-600-400-200 0 200 400 600

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

1,400 2016

2017

Employment Changes in Alaska 2011-2019 Forecast

2018*

2019 Forecast

-2,200

-4,600 Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce -5,500 Development, Research and Analysis Section

*Preliminary

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Most Who Lost Jobs Found Work in Alaska

ANS Crude Oil Production

100% 90%

Industries hardest-hit by state recession, 2015 and 2017

80%

■ Worked in different Alaska industry in 2017

60%

■ Worked in same Alaska industry in 2017

40%

1/31/2019

70%

01/01/2014 05/01/2011

50%

09/01/2008

30%

■ Left Alaska by 2017

01/01/2006

20%

■ In Alaska in 2017 but not working

10%

Note: Resident workers only.

0%

Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis Section

Oil & Gas

Construction

State Government

Industry worked in 2015 before losing job

ANS Production barrel per day 531,380 Jan. 31, 2019

05/01/2003 09/01/2000

0

400,000

800,000

1,200,000

SOURCE: Alaska Department of Revenue Tax Division

Cruise Ship Passengers Are Coming Back in Boatloads

ANS West Coast Crude Oil Prices 1/31/2019

Number of cruise ship passengers in Alaska 1,020,000 NEW 878,000 RECORD 883,000 980,000 999,600 967,000 999,600 1,025,900 1,089,700 1,165,500 1,310,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018* 2019* 0

300,000

600,000

900,000

1,200,000

09/01/2012

09/01/2008

ANS West Coast $ per barrel $61.96 Jan. 31, 2019

09/01/2004

09/01/2000 $0

$20

$40

$60

$80 $100 $120 $140 $160

SOURCE: Alaska Department of Revenue Tax Division

1,500,000

*Projected | Source: CILA

Mining Employment Very Stable in Alaska

*Preliminary Source: Institute of Social and Economic Research

1,874 2,109 2,291 2,126 2,326 2,720 3,063 3,023 2,907 2,983 2,945 3,076 3,126

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018*

Statewide Employment Figures 10/1976—12/2018 Seasonally Adjusted 12/01/2019

Labor Force 355,543 Dec. 2018 Employment 333,153 Dec. 2018 Unemployment 6.3% Dec. 2018

01/01/2010 05/01/2004 09/01/1998 01/01/1993 05/01/1987 09/01/1981 01/01/1976 0

0

500

1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

SOURCE: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research & Analysis Section

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ADVERTISERS INDEX Aaron Plumbing & Heating Company...35 aaronak.com Afognak Leasing LLC...................................30 alutiiq.com

Construction Equipment Company (CEC)............................................65 www.ceccrushers.com

Alaska Communications.............................. 3 acsalaska.com

Construction Machinery Industrial (CMI)................................................ 2 cmiak.com

Alaska Dreams Inc....................................... 50 alaskadreamsinc.com

Cornerstone Advisors................................... 9 buildbeyond.com

Alaska Executive Search............................ 68 akexec.com

Crowley Alaska Inc.......................................37 crowley.com

Alaska Logistics.............................................19 alaska-logistics.com

Cruz Companies.......................................... 34 cruzconstruct.com

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium................................................. 108 anthc.org

Davis Constructors & Engineers Inc.......67 davisconstructors.com

Alaska Railroad............................................. 66 alaskarailroad.com Alaska School Activities Association......12 asaa.org Alaska Soil Recycling...................................33 anchsand.com/divisions/soil-remediation Alaska Traffic Company............................. 69 alaskatraffic.com Alaska USA Federal Credit Union............10 alaskausa.org ALSCO..............................................................23 alsco.com Altman Rogers & Co.................................... 11 altrogco.com American Fast Freight.................................61 americanfast.com American Heart Association.....................18 www.heart.org American Marine / Penco............. 104, 105 amarinecorp.com Anchorage Chrysler Dodge..................... 94 anchoragechryslercenter.com Avis Rent-A-Car............................................95 avisalaska.com Bering Straits Native Corp.........................73 beringstraits.com BSI Commercial Real Estate......................58 bsialaska.com Bureau Veritas.............................................. 89 bureauveritas.com

DRS Technologies........................................17 drs.com Engineered Solutions Group....................85 epsinc.com First National Bank Alaska............................ 5 fnbalaska.com Great Northwest Inc................................... 54 grtnw.com Holmes Weddle & Barcott.........................35 hwb-law.com ICE Services....................................................57 iceservices.net Jim Meinel CPA P.C.....................................36 meinelcpa.com Judy Patrick Photography.........................39 judypatrickphotography.com Kinross Fort Knox.........................................87 fb.kinross.com Lynden Inc................................................... 107 lynden.com Matheson Tri-Gas.........................................36 mathesongas.com Matson Inc......................................................93 matson.com Mechanical Contractors of Fairbanks....29 mcfairbanks.com NCB................................................................... 11 ncb.coop New Horizons Telecom Inc......................41 nhtiusa.com

Oxford Assaying & Refining Inc.............. 89 oxfordmetal.com Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters................................65 nwcarpenters.org Pacific Pile & Marine................................. 101 pacificpile.com Parker Smith & Feek.....................................31 psfinc.com PenAir...............................................................14 penair.com Petro Marine Services.................................55 petromarineservices.com PIP Marketing, Signs, Print.........................52 pip.com PND Engineers Inc...................................... 68 pndengineers.com Quality Asphalt Paving (QAP)...................47 colaska.com Resolve Marine Group................................79 resolvemarine.com Seatac Marine Service.................................81 seatacmarine.com Sitnasuak Native Corp.................................75 snc.org Span Alaska Transportation LLC..............53 spanalaska.com Stellar Designs Inc........................................92 stellar-designs.com Superior Group............................................ 44 superiorpnh.com T. Rowe Price.................................................13 uacollegesavings.com The Plans Room.......................................... 60 theplansroom.com Tikigaq/CONAM LLC.................................. 42 tikigaq.com TOTE Maritime Alaska.................................45 totemaritime.com Tutka LLC........................................................33 tutkallc.com Ugashik Traditional Village........................51 ugashikvillage.com United Way of Anchorage..........................21 liveunitedanchorage.org

Business Insurance Associates Inc.........67 businessinsuranceassociates.com

Nortech Environmental & Engineering................................................... 48 nortechengr.com

C & R Pipe and Steel Inc............................ 66 crpipeandsteel.com

Northern Air Cargo..............................98, 99 nac.aero

Visit Anchorage.............................................97 anchorage.net

Calista Corp...................................................38 calistacorp.com

Northrim Bank...............................................15 northrim.com

Voice of the Arctic Inupiat.........................27 voiceofthearcticinupiat.org

Carlile Transportation Systems................59 carlile.biz

NorthStar Supply LLC................................. 44 northstarsupplyak.com

Westmark Hotels - HAP Alaska............... 20 westmarkhotels.com

Central Environmental Inc....................... 49 cei-alaska.com

NU FLOW Alaska...........................................28 nuflowalaska.com

Yukon Equipment Inc..................................63 yukoneq.com

Conrad-Houston Insurance Agency..... 24 chialaska.com

Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker LLP..........43 oles.com

106 | March 2019

Usibelli Coal Mine........................................91 usibelli.com

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

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A l as ka Na t i ve Tri b al Hea l t h C on s ort i u m b u i l ds i m p rove me n t s i n A l a s ka Na t i ve h ea l t h , wi t h ...

520,000 Pounds of food shipped to rural Alaska communities

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